Where and how is SDR available?

Since 1988, Selective Dorsal Rhizotomy (SDR) has been available through the orthopaedic team at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Hospital in Oswestry. The technique practised here is via a multi-level approach.

Since 2011, a number of British paediatric neurosurgery centres have started offering SDR surgery through the single-level approach. Some cases have been NHS-funded, others self-funded through the NHS hospital treatment top-up scheme.

If your child is attending a UK hospital, the hospital will usually make an application for funding to the Primary Care Trust. NHS funding may be granted in full or part or declined in which case the procedure may still go ahead but parents will be asked to find the funds. However, the costs will still be less than accessing SDR in the USA and follow up physiotherapy and monitoring of your child can be more easily accessed.

The centres in the UK offering SDR via a minimal access single-level approach in the UK are:

• Frenchay Hospital, Bristol
• Leeds General Infirmary
• Alder Hey Hospital, Liverpool
• Nottingham University Hospital

Over the past few years a number of UK children have also undergone SDR surgery in America at the St Louis Children's Hospital under the care of Dr TS Park and his team. This treatment is provided on a private-patient basis and can have substantial costs associated with it.

"SDR is not a miracle cure by any means but is a huge step on the road towards some form of independence." Parent