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Strategic priority: Safe care everywhere  

The Children’s Hospital at Westmead became the first hospital in the country to perform a single-level selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) for children with cerebral palsy.  

This new approach reduces hospital stay and post-operative discomfort for children. It also allows them to mobilise earlier and receive the intensive rehabilitation needed after surgery. Previously, patients required bed rest for six weeks following surgery, but with the new technique, children are out of bed and beginning physiotherapy within a week.

Dr Kristian Aqualina, an internationally renowned expert in SDR surgery and paediatric neurosurgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, travelled to Sydney to train lead neurosurgeons at the ÐÇ¿ÕÌåÓý in performing the new technique. 

This training was made possible through fundraising by the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation. 

Previously, SDR surgeries required multiple incisions in the spine, but the new technique requires just one incision and is a much less invasive operation which means children can recover more quickly.