The Functional Prognosis of Ambulation in Each Type of Cerebral Palsy

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: This study is to investigate the prognosis of functional ambulation in each type of cerebral palsy (CP). METHOD: Medical records of 385 patients were retrospectively reviewed that visited outpatients department and were diagnosed as CP. Various information was surveyed including CP type, gestational age at birth, birth weight and associated problems such as mental retardation and seizure and gross motor functional status such as ambulational status and Gross Motor Functional Classification System (GMFCS). All of them were compared between each type. The influences of seizure and mental retardation on gross motor function were also investigated. RESULTS: Functional ambulation was achieved in 58.2% in overall. Inspecting in each type, 93.7% of spastic hemiplegia, 67.6% of spastic diplegia, 12.2% of spastic quadriplegia, 78.7% of dyskinetic type can ambulate functionally. Birth weight or gestational age had no independent influences on ambulation within each type. Seizure influenced negatively on ambulation of diplegic CPs with significance and mental retardation in diplegic CPs and quadriplegic CPs than any other type. CONCLUSION: Over the half of CP patients achieved functional ambulation. Hemiplegia and diplegia had good prognosis among all types. Seizure and mental retardation negatively affected ambulation function of CP patients, especially in diplegic CPs and quadriplegic CPs.