Etiological Classification of Cerebral Palsy in Very Low Birthweight Infants

Abstract

As part of a longitudinal follow-up program a single case analysis of the history of 53 children with a birthweight of less than 1501 g, who had developed cerebral palsy, was performed. In 17 children (32%) a definite explanation for the neurological impairment and in another 17 (32%) at least a possible explanation could be found. In 19 of the 53 children (36%) the history was uneventful and did not offer a causal event. The common documentation in obstetric and pediatric case files left the cause of cerebral palsy undetected in one third of the cases.

Familias ante la parálisis cerebral

“…La etiología es un criterio de clasificación para Veelken et al (1993), que distinguen entre causas prenatales (exposición de la madre a virus, infecciones o rayos X, alto riesgo de aborto, incompatibilidad del RH sanguíneo, etc. ), perinatales (anoxia, traumatismos, hemorragia intracraneal, etc.)…”

Issues in the classification and epidemiology of cerebral palsy

“…More recently, Veelken et al [1993] classified the aetiology of 55 cases of cerebral palsy of ,1,500 g birthweight as being unexplained in 36%, possibly explained in a further 32%, and allocated to the postpartum period in the majority (9/17) of the remainder. Period allocation may also be counterproductive: If aetiological pathways spanning more than one period occur, the assignment of cause to a single aetiological period precludes recognition of the pathway, and hence of preventive opportunities [Blair and Stanley, 1993a].…”

Perinatal Brain Damage Causation

“…Although we have attempted to avoid offending anyone by not identifying papers that exemplified one of the misconceptions we address, we consider it appropriate to use our own work to illustrate how single-cause attribution was applied to a group of preterm children with cerebral palsy, the clinical neurodevelopmental symptom strongly associated with WMD [62] . The presence of certain characteristics in these individual children's histories (e.g.…”