Abstract
Purpose: We investigated five-year radiographic changes in the hip joints of children with cerebral palsy (CP) in relation to their Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) level after selective hip joint muscle-release surgery.
Methods: Thirty-three patients were enrolled in the study, and only those patients with CP classified as GMCFS level III-V and who could be followed for five years after surgery were selected. We evaluated migration percentage (MP), Sharp’s angle (SA), acetabular ridge angle (ARA), Shenton’s line, teardrop distance using radiography preoperatively and at one, three, and five years after surgery. We analyzed the data by two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance, and Bonferroni corrected multiple comparisons.
Results: Compared with preoperative measurements, hip MP significantly decreased in patients at all GMCFS levels at one, three, and five years postoperatively. In patients having GMFCS level III and IV, ARA significantly improved at three and five years postoperatively compared to preoperative measurements.
Conclusions: Hip MP improved in all patients at one year after surgery, indicating that there was no progression of latera subluxation during the five years after surgery. The results of SA and ARA evaluation demonstrated differences in improvement of acetabular shelf coverage in GMFCS level III and IV patients compared to GMCFS level V patients.
