Our news editors obtained a quote from the research by the authors from A.I. duPont Hospital for Children, “Questions/purposes We determined whether (1) distal rectus femoris transfer improved knee range of motion, time to peak knee flexion, peak knee flexion, and toe drag in children with CP diagnosed with stiff knee gait; and (2) patients in some subgroups (eg, those with relatively high knee range of motion compared with those with low knee range of motion before rectus femoris transfer) had greater improvement in these parameters. We retrospectively reviewed gait data from 56 patients (99 limbs) preoperatively, short-term, and long-term. Subgroup analyses were performed to determine whether patients with high knee range of motion relative to those with low or moderate knee range of motion improved differentially after rectus femoris transfer. The minimum followup was 7 years (mean +/- SD, 10 +/- 2 years; range, 7-13 years). The mean peak knee flexion increased from baseline to short-term and to long-term followup. Patients with low peak knee flexion had the greatest improvement of peak knee flexion after rectus femoris transfer relative to the moderate and high peak knee flexion subgroups. Similarly, the greatest improvement after rectus femoris transfer for knee range of motion occurred in the low knee range of motion subgroup relative to moderate and high subgroups. Rectus femoris transfer improved mean time to peak knee flexion at short-term and long-term followup compared with baseline. Likewise, there was a decrease in toe drag at short-and long-term after rectus femoris transfer.”

According to the news editors, the researchers concluded: “Distal rectus femoris transfer selectively improved peak knee flexion, toe drag, and reduced time to peak knee flexion in ambulatory children with CP with stiff knee gait.”

For more information on this research see: Rectus Femoris Transfer Improves Stiff Knee Gait in Children With Spastic Cerebral Palsy.Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, 2012;470(5):1303-1311.Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research can be contacted at: Springer, 233 Spring St, New York, NY 10013, USA. (Springer – www.springer.com; Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research – www.springerlink.com/content/0009-921x/)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting D. Thawrani, A.I. duPont Hospital for Children , Dept. of Orthopaed, Wilmington, DE 19803, United States (see also Cerebral Palsy).

Keywords for this news article include: Delaware, Wilmington, Orthopedics, United States, Brain Diseases, Cerebral Palsy, Chronic Brain Damage, North and Central America, Central Nervous System Diseases

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