Lurie Children’s neurosurgeon performs computer-guided radiofrequency ablation to decrease hypertonia in cerebral palsy

Jeffrey Raskin, MS, MD, a neurosurgeon at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Youngsters’s Hospital of Chicago, carried out the primary ever computer-guided radiofrequency ablation to lower extreme muscle tone (referred to as hypertonia) in a toddler with cerebral palsy.

In hypertonia, muscle tissue are continuously activated, which causes extreme ache and deformity within the bones and joints, and profoundly impacts the kid’s high quality of life. Drugs are usually not at all times efficient, and these sufferers do not need some other surgical choices.

Dr. Raskin’s modern minimally invasive surgical process makes use of a pc system to precisely place electrode needles into the nerve roots that exit the spine. Radiofrequency vitality (much like microwave warmth) is then delivered to disconnect the muscle from the mind and spinal cord, which successfully decreases the power of the nervous system to activate muscle tissue.

Whereas radiofrequency ablation has been used for many years for relieving ache, the process has not been tried beforehand for reducing tone in cerebral palsy.

Dr. Raskin reported his expertise with the primary affected person case within the journal Operative Neurosurgery. Now eight months after the process, the advantages are lasting, and the kid’s high quality of life is tremendously improved.

We have to change the paradigm of how we look after sufferers with extreme hypertonia. To lower muscle tone, we have to exclude the dysfunctional nervous system, which is the principle driver of pathology. Radiofrequency ablation is a secure and efficient strategy that’s effectively tolerated, with sufferers going residence the following day. Sufferers with extreme tone regardless of medicines are inspired to see a neurosurgeon to see if they’re candidates for this therapy.”

Dr. Jeffrey Raskin, MS, MD, Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgical procedure at Northwestern College Feinberg College of Medication