Preoperative treatment of spasticity with botulinum neurotoxin A to reduce pain in cerebral palsy: is it worthwhile?

Abstract

This commentary is on the original article by Will et al. on pages 1074–1079 of this issue.

Canadian Physicians' Use of Perioperative Botulinum Toxin Injections to Spastic Limbs: A Cross-sectional National Survey

“…There has been an increase in publications over the past 2 years regarding the use of perioperative BoNT to enhance outcomes of surgeries on spastic limbs, 10 , 11 , 13 , 17 , 21 , 23 but to date, there have not been any cross-sectional surveys to assess how frequently perioperative BoNT treatment is performed by physicians involved in spasticity management or physicians’ practice patterns regarding the timing of perioperative BoNT. Given the paucity of literature and absence of guidelines regarding perioperative BoNT injection to enhance outcomes of surgeries on spastic limbs, we organized a cross-sectional study to assess whether physicians are performing perioperative BoNT, with an ultimate goal to plan for the future development of Canadian guidelines.…”