Hemiparetic cerebral palsy: etiological risk factors and neuroimaging

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper, which was conducted on 175 children with hemiparetic cerebral palsy (H-CP), was to verify the etiological risk period for this disease. Etiological risk factors (ERF) were detected through anamnesis 23 percent in the prenatal period, 18 percent in the perinatal period and 59 percent of the patients the period was undefined (ERF in the prenatal and perinatal period was 41 percent and no ERF was 18 percent of the cases. The computerized tomographic scan (CT) and MRI were performed on all the patients, who were then classified according to their etiopathogenic data CT1= normal (18 percent); CT 2= unilateral ventricular enlargement (25 percent); CT 3= cortical/ subcortical cavities (28 percent); CT4= hemispheric atrophy and other findings (14 percent); CT 5= malformations (15 percent). CT 5 was associated with physical malformations beyond the central nervous system and with prenatal ERF's , while CT 2 was associated with the perinatal ERF's, mainly in premature births. Magnetic resonance imaging was performed on 57 patients and demonstrated a good degree of concordance with the CT. Etiology remained undefined in only 37 percent of the cases after neuroimaging was related to ERF. A high perinatal RF frequency (59 percent) was observed and emphasized the need for special care during this period