[The usefulness of tizanidine. A one-year follow-up of the treatment of spasticity in infantile cerebral palsy].

INTRODUCTION: The cerebral palsy has the first place of physical handicap in children (type spastic, 88%). Tizanidine imidazole derivative is centrally acting as a a2-adrenergic agonist. AIM: To demonstrate clinically the effectiveness of tizanidine in the decrease of the spasticity. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We assigned randomly in a double blind study 10 children treated with tizanidine (0.05 mg/kg/day) and 30 with placebo for a 6-month period, after which they were unified in the group of tizanidine. The dependent variables were spasticity, Ashworth scale, posture tone scale, reflex scale and liver function test.
RESULTS: The spasticity and the reflex decreased in the group of tizanidine an 78.85% in comparison with a 7.64% in the group of placebo (p = 0.0001); in the monitoring of 6 months 35 patients reduced this to 78.2% (p= 0.0001). The duration of effectiveness of tizanidine in four patients was two months and they never returned to their appraisal basal. Without reported adverse effects, the liver function test remains normal.
CONCLUSION: Tizanidine produces a significant reduction of the spasticity in children without adverse effects, having a high percentage of acceptance to the prescribe dose.

RCT Entities:   Population Interventions Outcomes