Neuroorthopedic surgeries required in patients with neuromuscular diseases who come to the Hospital de Clínicas, San Lorenzo, Paraguay, from 2016 to 2018

Abstract

Neuromuscular diseases show a progressive loss of strength, evolving towards a severe disability. They present a great variability in terms of severity, age at onset of symptoms and complications. It was an observational, descriptive, retrospective study. Thirty patients of both sexes with neuromuscular diseases were included in the study. 70% of the patients evaluated corresponded to the male sex. Age of 10 ± 4.7 years. 25% presented Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, 23% Spinal Atrophy Type II, 10% Becker Muscular Dystrophy, 8% Humeral Scapular Dystrophy, 4% Pompe Disease, 10% AME Type I and 20% diagnosed with decide. 70% dyspnea as the main symptom, 40% without gait and 3% scoliosis. The types of curvature of the spine in two patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy was thoracolumbar and greater angle of Cobb, the patient with spinal muscular atrophy type II was of lumbar type with less deviation of the spine. Of the total number of patients, five had type I gait, seven gait Type II, six gait Type III and twelve gait without gait. The bilateral Achilles tendon surgery required by fifteen patients, three require spinal fusion, and several patients require more than two types of surgeries. In Paraguay there is a limitation regarding the types of neuro-orthopedic surgeries that can be performed, which forces many patients to travel to countries such as Argentina or Chile to access them, column arthrodesis is not done in any public or private institution from the country.