What Causes Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral palsy is a term used for defining a group of disorders that affect movement, posture and balance. The signs of this unfortunate disorder appear during infancy or early childhood.
Although mental retardation might accompany cerebral palsy, a large number of cerebral palsy patients have normal to above normal intelligence. However, limitation in movements significantly reduces their ability to express their intelligence.
Cerebral palsy causes
Cerebral palsy occurs from abnormal development or damage in parts of the brain associated with motor activities and muscle tone. In several cases, the exact cause of cerebral palsy is unknown.
Prenatal brain damage
In 70 to 80 per cent cerebral palsy cases, brain damage occurs before birth. Mothers suffering from thyroid disorder, viral infections such as herpes and rubella and parasitic infections such as toxoplasmosis and epilepsy might give birth to babies with cerebral palsy.
Certain genetic conditions might increase the risk of cerebral palsy. Risk of abnormal brain development is highest during the first six months of pregnancy. For unknown reasons, mutation of genes associated with brain development leads to abnormal brain development.
Consumption of medications, which are unsuitable during pregnancy, could cause prenatal brain damage. Exposure to toxic substances during pregnancy might damage the brain of the fetus. Damaged placenta increases the risk of the cerebral palsy.
Perinatal brain damage
In less than 10 per cent cerebral palsy cases, brain damage occurs during birth. In a small number of cerebral palsy cases, oxygen deprivation during labor or delivery increases the risk of brain damage.
Untreated pre-eclampsia increases the risk of bleeding inside the brain during birth. Rarely, preterm or post term delivery leads to cerebral palsy. Infants born on the 37th or the 38th week of pregnancy might develop cerebral palsy.
Cerebral palsy might even occur in infants born on the 42nd week of pregnancy. Health experts believe complications developing during labor and delivery in preterm delivery might lead to brain damage. Whereas delivery after the gestational age of 40 weeks might make the neonatal brain vulnerable to damage.
Postnatal brain damage
Head injury, meningitis, poisoning and oxygen deprivation in early life might cause cerebral palsy after birth.
