Rhizotomy
Overview
Nerve root
A nerve root is the initial segment of a nerve leaving the central nervous system. Types include:* A cranial nerve root, the beginning of one of the twelve pairs leaving the central nervous system from the brain stem or the highest levels of the spinal cord;...
s in the spinal cord
Spinal cord
The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue and support cells that extends from the brain . The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system...
, most often to relieve the symptoms of neuromuscular conditions such as spastic diplegia
Spastic diplegia
Spastic diplegia, historically known as Little's Disease, is a form of cerebral palsy that is a neuromuscular condition of hypertonia and spasticity in the muscles of the lower extremities of the human body, usually those of the legs, hips and pelvis...
and other forms of spastic cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term encompassing a group of non-progressive, non-contagious motor conditions that cause physical disability in human development, chiefly in the various areas of body movement....
. The selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) for spastic
Spastic
The word spastic is used differently depending on location which has led to some controversy and misunderstanding. Derived via Latin from the Greek spastikos , the word originally referred to a change in muscles affected by the medical condition spasticity, which is seen in spastic diplegia and...
cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy
Cerebral palsy is an umbrella term encompassing a group of non-progressive, non-contagious motor conditions that cause physical disability in human development, chiefly in the various areas of body movement....
has been the main use of rhizotomy for neurosurgeons specialising in spastic CP since the 1980s; in this surgery, the spasticity-causing nerves are isolated and then targeted and destroyed.
