Aim

To determine the long-term efficacy of Katona therapy and early rehabilitation of infants with moderate-to-severe perinatal brain damage (PBD).

Methods

Thirty-two participants were recruited (7–16 years) and divided into 3 groups: one Healthy group (n = 11), one group with PBD treated with Katona methodology from 2 months of corrected age, and with long-term follow-up (n = 12), and one group with PBD but without treatment in the first year of life due to late diagnosis of PBD (n = 9). Neuropediatric evaluations, motor evoked potentials (MEPs) and magnetic resonance images (MRI) were made. The PBD groups were matched by severity and topography of lesion.

Results

The patients treated with Katona had better motor performance when compared to patients without early treatment (Gross Motor Function Classification System levels; 75% of Katona group were classified in levels I and II and 78% of patients without early treatment were classified in levels III and IV). Furthermore, independent k-means cluster analyses of MRI, MEPs, and neuropediatric evaluations data were performed. Katona and non-treated early groups were classified in the same MRI cluster which is the expected for PBD population patients. However, in MEPs and neuropediatric evaluations clustering, the 67% of Katona group were assigned into Healthy group showing the impact of Katona therapy over the patients treated with it. These results highlight the Katona therapy benefits in early rehabilitation of infants with moderate-to-severe PBD.

Conclusions

Katona therapy and early rehabilitation have an important therapeutic effect in infants with moderate-to-severe PBD by decreasing the severity of motor disability in later stages of life.

中文翻译：

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Katona疗法对中至重度围产期脑损伤的长期治疗作用。

目标

为了确定卡托纳疗法的长期疗效以及中度至重度围产期脑损伤（PBD）婴儿的早期康复。

方法

招募了32名参与者（7至16岁），分为3组：一组为健康组（n  = 11），一组为从校正后的2个月开始用Katona方法治疗PBD，并进行了长期随访（n  = 12），一组患有PBD但由于对PBD的诊断较晚而在生命的第一年未接受治疗（n  = 9）。进行了神经儿科评估，运动诱发电位（MEP）和磁共振图像（MRI）。PBD组根据病变的严重程度和地形来匹配。

结果

与未进行早期治疗的患者相比，接受过卡托纳治疗的患者具有更好的运动表现（总运动功能分类系统水平；卡托纳组的75％被划分为I和II级，而未进行早期治疗的患者中有78％被划分为III级和II级。 IV）。此外，独立k对MRI，MEP和神经儿科评估数据进行均值聚类分析。卡托纳和未接受治疗的早期组被归类在同一MRI簇中，这是PBD人群患者所期望的。但是，在MEP和神经儿科评估聚类中，将Katona组的67％分配为健康组，显示Katona治疗对其接受治疗的患者的影响。这些结果凸显了卡托纳疗法在中重度PBD婴儿早期康复中的益处。

结论

卡托纳疗法和早期康复治疗对中重度PBD婴儿具有重要的治疗作用，可降低其生命后期阶段运动障碍的严重程度。