TRANSPLANTATION OF THE HAMSTRING MUSCLES IN CEREBRAL PALSY

¹ Princess Margaret Rose Orthopaedic Hospital, Edinburgh

1 . A ten-year study of fifty-four operations for transplantation of the hamstring muscles in thirty-one spastic patients has been made.

2. Twenty-one patients were improved after operation, six were not improved, and in four the duration of follow-up was too short for proper assessment. One patient died from other causes.

3. Greatest benefit was not obtained until one year after operation.

4. The results varied considerably in different grades of spastic patient. Important factors affecting the results were age, sex, personality, balance and function of arm and hip. Hand and major hip operations should be carried out before hamstring transplantation.

5. The objectives of operation are discussed. These were most consistently achieved in older, more ambitious or more responsible males with good balance and with good arm and hip function.

6. Factors which were of less direct importance were mental capacity, minor degrees of limb length inequality, and foot deformities.

7. Operative correction of foot deformities should not be done before hamstring transplantation.

8. Serial plaster correction of the knee flexion deformity before operation is preferred to division of the patellar retinacula.

9. Transplantation of the hamstrings to the patella in spastics is under trial.