World Cerebral Palsy Day 2020: The Importance of Early Diagnosis in the Management of Neuropathies in This Group

The type of cerebral palsy and the area of ​​the brain it affects. Image courtesy of Ceimile95 / Wikimedia Commons

On October 6, the world celebrates the annual Cerebral Palsy Day. The day will be hosted by the World Cerebral Palsy Initiative, an NGO composed of various cerebral palsy associations around the world. It aims to celebrate and recognize those who live with cerebral palsy, their caretakers, and the global organizations that support them. They are also focused on raising awareness of the condition and creating social changes to better support patients with cerebral palsy.

Cerebral palsy is not a single illness, but a group of neuropathy that appears in infancy or childhood, permanently affects muscle movement and posture, and remains impaired for life.

Approximately 17 million people worldwide are affected by the disease, but there is still a lack of general knowledge about the condition, including its causes and symptoms, and how early diagnosis can help improve outcomes in patients with cerebral palsy. doing.

What is cerebral palsy?

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of neurological conditions that result from brain damage or abnormal brain development during pregnancy, childbirth, or shortly after childbirth.

This condition presents with a variety of symptoms, including visual, language or learning problems, intellectual disability, epilepsy, and partial or complete loss of spontaneous muscle movement.

About 1 in 4 children with CP cannot speak, 1 in 4 cannot walk, 1 in 4 has intellectual disability, and 2 in 2 children with cerebral palsy One person has epilepsy.

There are four types of cerebral palsy, depending on the movement disorders involved. These include:

Spastic CP: It makes up about 80% of all cases of cerebral paralysis and is caused by damage to the motor cortex. The person’s muscles become stiff and muscle tone increases. There are three types of spastic cerebral palsy:

• Spastic quadriplegia-Both arms and legs, as well as face, trunk, and mouth muscles are affected.
• Spastic diplegia-both legs are affected and the arms can be affected to some extent.
• Spastic hemiplegia-Only one arm and leg is affected. Arms are usually more affected than legs.

Movement Disorder CP: It occurs in more than 6% of cases and is characterized by the inability to sit, walk, or control body movements. This condition is caused by damage to the basal ganglia of the brain.

Ataxia CP: It occurs in about 5% of cases and is characterized by balance and movement problems. It is caused by damage to the cerebellum part of the brain.

Mixed CP: Many patients have multiple types of cerebral palsy. The most common are spastic and movement disorders.

Importance of screening and early diagnosis

There is no cure for cerebral paralysis. Early diagnosis and screening of the condition has been suggested to be important for patients. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the following steps can help you diagnose cerebral palsy early.

• Track the growth and development of the child and screen for any abnormal signs.
• Screening to see if the child shows signs of intellectual or developmental delay showing cerebral palsy.
• After screening, a test is done to find out what type of cerebral palsy your child has.

Early signs of cerebral palsy

Here are some early signs that your child may have cerebral palsy:

Infants under 6 months old: The baby feels sloppy, has stiff and crossed legs, and when hugged, covers his neck as if he were trying to escape from you.

Strong> For 6-10 month old babies: Can’t put both hands together or put them on the mouth, can’t roll, reach out with one hand and clasp the other.

Babies over 10 months old: Instead of crawl on all fours, instead of hopping your knees and hips. Crawling, but using only one hand and one foot.

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