Cerebral palsy in children is manifested (among others) by the disorder of muscle tone of predominan- tly limb muscles, which is traditionally called „spasticity„. That term does not completely describe this type of muscle tone disorder. A combination of the spastic contraction and dystonia is involved, and the term „spastic dystonia„ is currently used for this complete disorder of muscle tone. However, the term „spasticity„ is still traditionally used for cerebral palsy. In addition to orthopaedic and physio- therapeutical methods, the local administration of botulinum toxin A into affected muscles is used in recent years. The authors summarize results of more than three years´ treatment of children suffering from cerebral palsy with botulinum toxin A. The children, suffering from more severe form of cerebral palsy who were not yet „verticalized„ at the time of treatment onset, were followed in presented study. The authors examined the effectiveness of botulinum toxin A treatment in this target group of patients. They found that botulinum toxin A is a very effective treatment for spasticity of limb muscles. It was possible to induce the development of a new, improved motor pattern in the majority of patients. No side effects of botulinum toxin A treatment were recorded in the whole group of patients. The effect of injections lasted usually for more than three months. The authors recommend botulinum toxin A together with physiotherapy as the treatment of first choice in the management of spasticity of limb muscles in children suffering from cerebral palsy.

        Key words: pediatric cerebral palsy, spasticity, botulinum toxin A