Professor Nicola Portinaro held a lecture on the use of botulinum toxin in children affected by cerebral palsy, at Humanitas Research Hospital.

The theoretical-Practical Course called “Where the botulinum toxin recommendation ends and functional surgery begins in Cerebral Palsy” was ECM accredited.

The neurotoxin is produced by the Clostridium botulinum bacterium, one of the most powerful poisons in nature for its ability to block the release of the neurotransmitter responsible for muscle contraction (acetylcholine). So botulinum toxin induces a progressive paralysis of the muscles.
Since the 1990s it has been used in the individual rehabilitative project of cerebral palsy, exploiting its ability to release muscles to treat disorders such as dystonia and spasticity. It is injected locally into the muscle to be treated, with a specific dosage in relation to the age and weight of the child, muscle size and degree of contracture.

Botulinum toxin helps to improve movement, walking, and handling; it can help improving sitting posture or standing posture, too and it is useful also in the reduction of pain, in the prevention of complications, with particular reference to skeletal deformities (hip dislocation, scoliosis, limb deformities), in the simplification of care and hygiene, in improving orthosis adaptability and to postpone or avoid orthopedic functional surgery.