William L. Oppenheim

Normal selective voluntary motor control (SVMC) can be defined as the ability to perform isolated joint movement without using mass flexor/extensor patterns or undesired movement at other joints, such as mirroring. SVMC is an important determinant of function, yet a valid, reliable assessment tool is lacking. The Selective Control Assessment of the Lower Extremity (SCALE) is a clinical tool developed to quantify SVMC in patients with cerebral palsy (CP). This paper describes the development, utility, validation, and interrater reliability of SCALE. Content validity was based on review by 14 experienced clinicians. Mean agreement was 91.9% (range 71.4-100%) for statements about content, administration, and grading. SCALE scores were compared with Gross Motor Function Classification System Expanded and Revised (GMFCS-ER) levels for 51 participants with spastic diplegic, hemiplegic, and quadriplegic CP (GMFCS levels I - IV, 21 males, 30 females; mean age 11y 11mo [SD 4y 9mo]; range 5-23y). Construct validity was supported by significant inverse correlation (Spearman's r=-0.83, p<0.001) between SCALE scores and GMFCS levels. Six clinicians rated 20 participants with spastic CP (seven males, 13 females, mean age 12y 3mo [SD 5y 5mo], range 7-23y) using SCALE. A high level of interrater reliability was demonstrated by intraclass correlation coefficients ranging from 0.88 to 0.91 (p<0.001).

Between 1958 and 1983, 45 corrective supracondylar osteotomies of the humerus were performed for post-traumatic cubitus varus deformity in 43 children. The average follow-up period was two and one-half years. Excellent or good results were obtained in 33 patients. Unsatisfactory results were seen in 12. The operation, though deceptively simple, had a significant complication rate (24%), including neuropraxia, sepsis, and cosmetically unacceptable scarring. After these problems were analyzed, the important points of technique that were noted were a comprehensive preoperative plan and a simple lateral closing wedge osteotomy, leaving the medial cortex intact and ignoring rotational deformity.

To determine whether closed treatment of both-bone midshaft forearm fractures routinely results in acceptable clinical outcome for children less than 16 years of age, we retrospectively studied all such patients treated at our two hospitals between 1970 and 1982. All children less than 10 years of age at the time of fracture had excellent results. Of 14 patients between the ages of 10 and 16 years, closed treatment failed in nine. We conclude that the incidence of poor results from closed treatment of the fractures in children greater than 10 years of age is seriously underestimated.

The operative treatment of 37 patients with unicameral bone cysts was compared with the newer method of steroid injection in 20 patients whose cysts were similarly predisposed with respect to mode of presentation, location, age, and sex. In the surgical group the average operative time was 100 min, with a mean estimated blood loss of 300 ml. The recurrence rate was 40%, rising to 88% in patients under the age of 10 years with active cysts (less than 1 cm from the physis). Major complications occurred in 15% and included infection, refracture, coxa vara, extremity shortening, and physeal damage. A minimum follow-up of 2 years was necessary to rule out recurrence. In contrast, the steroid-injected group had a recurrence rate of 5%, although 50% required more than one injection for maximum obliteration. The average operative time was 30 min, with negligible blood loss and a minimum hospital stay and rehabilitation. The only complications were a mild steroid flush in one patient and extremity shortening due to preexisting fracture in another. The end point of healing was reconstitution of cortical thickness, rather than total obliteration at the cyst. No secondary fractures were encountered. Both operative treatment and percutaneous steroid injection exhibited a high rate of recurrence or persistence. The greater simplicity and lesser morbidity associated with the steroid technique favored it as the method of choice.