The Cerebral Palsy Research Network’s MyCP webinar for April will feature Jeffrey Leonard, MD, Chief of Neurosurgery at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, talking about selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) – a surgical procedure to reduce spasticity for people with cerebral palsy (CP). Dr. Leonard, neurosurgery lead for the CP Research Network, will discuss the “who, what, how, when and why” of SDR including the current gaps in knowledge about the procedure and the network’s planned study to address these gaps. At the conclusion of the presentation which begins on Wednesday, April 19 at 8 pm ET, Dr. Leonard will be available for an open Q&A with members of the CP community.

“The question of who is the best candidate for SDR was the founding question of the network,” said CP Research Network President, CEO and Co-founder Paul Gross. “Being presented with this surgery as an option to help my son’s gait inspired me to seek real world comparative effectiveness evidence about SDR versus other interventions that were offered us at the same time. Dr. Leonard’s experience and passion for designing a study to address these gaps in knowledge aligns with our established patient-center research agenda (Research CP).”

Later this year, Dr. Leonard and other leading researchers in the CP Research Network are planning to submit a grant application to the National Institutes of Health for a 20-center study to generate answers to this question. He will describe the procedure and the extent of variation in practice across the United States as well as how the study will be designed to generate evidence about the effectiveness of SDR.

Please join us for the webinar and discussion next Wednesday evening. You can register for this webinar or the whole MyCP webinar series to receive notices every monthly webinar on our research. The webinar will also be recorded and posted to our YouTube channel.