SURGICAL PROCEDURES PROLONG AMBULATION IN PATIENTS WITH DUCHENNE MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY

TL;DR

Surgery helps prolong walking ability in Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients, especially when done early after gait loss.

Contribution

Identifies a new optimal time window for surgery to improve outcomes in Duchenne patients.

Findings

Surgical treatment prolonged gait by an average of 38.6 months.

Earlier surgery improved success rates, with a 0.2% decrease per day of delay after gait loss.

The optimal time for surgery was within 12 months after gait loss.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of surgical procedures on maintaining ambulation for Duchenne patients.

This retrospective cohort study evaluated 35 patients for whom surgery was recommended at our institution from 2012 to 2020.

Twenty-seven patients were operated on before gait loss, and eight after. In this study, surgical treatment allowed recovery and prolongation of gait for 38.6 months, on average. The sooner the surgery was performed, the better the results were; logistic regression analysis showed that each day of delay after gait loss decreased the chances of success by 0.2%. The optimal interval for intervention was up to 12 months after gait loss.

Our results thus corroborate the evidence that surgical interventions are beneficial for these patients and suggest a not previously described time window for achieving better outcomes. Level of Evidence lll; Retrospective, Comparative Study of Surgical Interventions.

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