Kazakhstani Child Receives Life-Saving Treatment at Peking University International Hospital
At Peking University International Hospital (PKUIH), a life‑saving story unfolded across borders. The patient was a two‑and‑a‑half‑year‑old child from Kazakhstan, diagnosed with pediatric cerebral palsy—a disorder affecting movement and muscle tone—along with neurodevelopmental delay and a congenital cytomegalovirus infection. These conditions had caused significant motor delays: the child had abnormally high muscle tone in both legs, making it impossible to sit or stand unassisted. Fine hand movements were severely limited, and the child also suffered from strabismus, or crossed eyes. Accompanied by family members, the child traveled thousands of miles to China in search of hope.
To address the child's complex condition, PKUIH swiftly mobilized its multidisciplinary team model. Specialists from pediatrics, traditional Chinese medicine, infectious diseases, neurosurgery, nutrition, ophthalmology, and rehabilitation medicine convened for joint consultations, conducting a comprehensive evaluation of the condition, ruling out potential treatment risks, and crafting a personalized care plan that integrated diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation.
Dr. Jin Tingting from the Rehabilitation Department performed a thorough functional assessment, evaluating muscle tone, neurodevelopment, fine motor skills, and Activities of Daily Living (ADL). Based on these results, she established rehabilitation goals centered on reducing muscle tone, strengthening core control, improving fine motor skills, and enhancing independence in ADL. Rehabilitation therapist Zhang Yinghao then delivered more than 20 days of systematic, individualized rehabilitation training in line with those objectives.
During the training, therapist Zhang Yinghao addressed the child's weak respiratory muscles, poor coordination, and limited chest breathing—using the chest rather than the belly to breathe—along with a suspected secondary pigeon chest, a chest wall deformity where the breastbone protrudes outward. Following the principles of early childhood development, he introduced rehabilitation in a step‑by‑step progression:
