Predicting Postoperative Ambulation Following Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy Based on Preoperative Gross Motor Function Score

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by abnormalities in muscle tone, movement, and motor skills resulting from permanent, nonprogressive damage to the developing brain before, during, or after birth (Tedla & Reddy, 2021). The worldwide prevalence of CP is 2-3 per 1000 live births (Paul et al., 2022). The most common type of CP is spastic, accounting for approximately 85% of all CP cases (Paul et al., 2022). It is divided into 3 types: hemiparetic, diparetic, and quadriparetic. Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) is a surgical technique applied for spasticity management in children with bilateral spastic type CP (Novak et al., 2014). One of the most important points in the decision-making process for SDR surgery is the compatibility of the family's expectations with the expectations of the healthcare professional. Informing the family about the expectations is very important in the decision-making process for surgery (Waite et al., 2023). No study has been found in the literature that provides objective predictive value before surgery in terms of postoperative ambulation. The aim of this study is to examine the predictability of postoperative ambulation status in patients with Spastic Cerebral Palsy (SCP) according to the Gross Motor Function Measure-88 (GMFM-88) score before SDR.