Session Information
Session Title: Research Spotlight: Pediatric Rehabilitation
Session Time: None. Available on demand.
Disclosures: Devin Kennedy, BS: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest
Objective: Children with hemiplegic CP often have a limb length discrepancy (LLD), with the leg on the involved side being shorter than the uninvolved side. A conclusive study has not been conducted to verify this assumption. This study assesses if there is a significant length discrepancy and if the discrepancy changes as the child grows.
Design: Retrospective chart reviewSetting : Pediatric rehabilitation hospitalParticipants : Children with hemiplegic CP with at least one lower extremity scanogram when >5 years old and no previous leg surgeries
Interventions: none
Main Outcome Measures: Changes in scanograms
Results: Fifty-one patients met the inclusion criteria. Thirty-six patients had serial scanograms. The involved side was shorter than the uninvolved side in 42 patients (82.4%). The LLD varied from 0 to 9.5 cm, while the age range when the scanograms were taken was 39 to 257 months with an average age of 127 months. In the 51 patients with LLD, the involved side was shorter by an average of 1.329 cm (2.1% LLD difference), (SD: 2.051 cm, p-value: < 0.0001, t-value: 2.01). In the 36 patients who had serial scanograms, while the differences in leg length tended to increase as the child aged by 0.72 cm from the first scanogram to the last (an increase of 215.9%), the percentage LLD difference stayed the same (1.9%, p=0.99, t-value: 2.03).Conclusions: There is a LLD in children with hemiplegic CP, with the involved side significantly shorter than the uninvolved side. This LLD increases in centimeters as a patient grows, but the percentage of difference in leg length stays the same as a patient grows thus the proportionality stays the same. This is the first study that we are aware of that demonstrates that there is no change in LLD proportionality with growth in children with hemiplegic CP. Physicians who treat children with hemiplegic CP should consider these results when considering treatment options.
Level of Evidence: Level III
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Kennedy D, Deshpande s, Gormley M. Leg Length Discrepancy in Children with Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy and Changes with Growthprint [abstract]. PM R. 2021; 13(S1)(suppl 1). https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/leg-length-discrepancy-in-children-with-hemiplegic-cerebral-palsy-and-changes-with-growthprint/. Accessed May 12, 2025.« Back to AAPM&R Annual Assembly 2021
PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/leg-length-discrepancy-in-children-with-hemiplegic-cerebral-palsy-and-changes-with-growthprint/