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Cerebral palsy: not always what it seems
R Gupta, R E AppletonThe Roald
Dahl EEG Unit, Department of Neurology, Alder Hey Children's Hospital,
Eaton Road, Liverpool L12 2AP, UK
Correspondence to: Dr Appleton Richard.Appleton@RLCH-TR.NWEST.NHS.UK
Accepted 13 August
2001
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
 |
Introduction |
|---|
Cerebral palsy (CP) is an umbrella term that defines a group of
non-progressive, but often changing, syndromes of motor impairment secondary to lesions or anomalies of the brain arising in the early
stages of its development.1 2 The characteristic clinical feature that is common to all CP syndromes is the presence of pyramidal
or extrapyramidal signs. CP is neither a specific disease nor a
pathological or aetiological entity, and importantly the term CP does
not
and should notnecessarily imply or identify a specific cause.
The prevalence of CP ranges from 1.5 to 2.5 per 1000 live births, with
the risk highest among very preterm and low birthweight babies.
However, the majority of children with CP are born at or near term
gestation. Causes of CP include perinatal hypoxic-ischaemic
encephalopathy, intra- or periventricular haemorrhage, cerebral
dysgenesis, and intracranial infection. The CP syndromes may be
classified by the predominant type of motor disturbance, including,
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