CP Causes

It is now quite obvious that the term ‘cerebral palsy’ does not reflect the whole variety and essence of the neurological disorders involved. Yet it is widely used in world practice and literature, as no other term has so far been suggested.

The causes of cerebral palsy ware likewise multiple and variable. Professional opinions, however different, do agree that cerebral palsy is poly-etiological Studies of these causes have shown that it is impossible to make out a single cause in most cases, because a combination of several adverse factors both during pregnancy and at delivery are found quite frequently.

In 80% of cerebral palsy cases, according to results of numerous research works, brain damage occurs in prenatal fetal development. An intrauterine pathology may later be aggravated by some factor at childbirth. However, the cause of cerebral palsy cannot have been ascertained in one out of three cases.

Today's medical literature has described more than 400 factors influencing the course of fetal development, and in 70-80% of cerebral palsy cases, there is a combination of factors that may have affected the brain.

Among these factors are, above all, some acute or chronic diseases of the mother, such as hypertension, heart disease, anemia, obesity, diabetes mellitus, rubella, and others. Some drugs, like tranquilizers, administered during pregnancy, may also act as risk factors, as well as some effects of the mother’s professional occupation, the parents' alcoholism, stresses, psychological discomfort and physical injuries. Recent evidence suggests that various infectious agents, especially those of virus origin, that are likely to have an influence on the fetus may also play a major part in the cause of cerebral palsy.

Anything that may disturb the normal course of pregnancy, such as toxemia or rise of interruption of pregnancy, and mother-fetus immune incompatibility may also contribute to the development of cerebral palsy.

Most of these prenatal factors usually result in intrauterine hypoxia of the fetus and impairment in the uterine-placental circulation.

The autoimmune process might also act an important pathogenetic mechanism of intrauterine brain damage.

On the other hand, complicated labor and delivery may also prove a factor of high risk. When the baby has suffered any intrauterine damage, labor and delivery are often severe and lengthy. This makes a mechanical injury of the baby’s head and asphyxia possible, which often act as secondary factors to add to the primary brain damage. Besides, premature delivery, according to most researchers, may also be one of the most important predisposition factors.

A cranial injury at birth may interfere in development of the brain resulting in some cerebral palsy symptoms. But it is important to bear in mind that birth injury most often occurs against the background of a previous defect in fetal development during pathological and sometimes even natural birth.

Immediately after birth, infections are considered to be more hazardous than injuries.

Cerebral palsy may also have a hereditary cause, according to some studies. In some cases, hereditary diseases like chromosomal aberrations such as Patau’s syndrome and trisomy 18, X-linked chromosomal hydrocephaly, and Dope-dependent dystonia took the form of a cerebral palsy syndrome.

It is also noteworthy that cerebral palsy afflicts males much more often—by a factor of 1.3 on the average—and much more severely than females.  For example, three out of four cases of moderate and severe tetraplegia are found in males and tend to produce more severe motor disturbances than in females.