Abstract

CAMPOS, Patricia; BANCALARI, Ernesto  and  CASTANEDA, Carlos. Cerebral palsy etiology. Rev Med Hered [online]. 1996, vol.7, n.3, pp.113-118. ISSN 1018-130X.

Objective: To determine the most frequent causes of cerebral palsy. Material and methods: A descriptive study of etiology in cerebral palsy (CP) is reported. We studied 102 cases of CP between November 1990 and May 1992 in two outpatient Neuropediatric Clinics associated to the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima - Perú (Hospital Nacional Cayetano Heredia y Hogar Clínica San Juan de Dios). Results: The distribution of gestational age of our patients was 14.7% preterm, 67% fullterm and only one premature baby. The birth weight was more than 2,500 g in 54.9%, 1,500 g in 16.7% and less than 1500 in 6.9% of 97 cases. The cause was identified in 70% of patients, the more frequent etiology group was the perinatal one, with 59.3%, then the prenatal group with 29.1% and finally the postnatal 11.6%. In the prenatal group, almost 50% were congenital cerebral malformations; in the perinatal group the most frequent cause was perinatal asphyxia with or without other metabolic factor. We had 4 patients with severe hypoglycemia and two with dyskinetic PC related to kernicterus. Among the postnatal causes the most frequent was meningoencephalitis sequelae. We found, that in preterm newborns with low or very low birth weight the most comun type of CP was spastic diplegia and all of them with an hipoxic background. Conclusions: The high frequency of perinatal hypoxic cases and the low frequency of spastic diplegia are explained as a consequence of deficient conditions and poor technological resources for attention of mothers and newborns in our Public Healt System. (Rev Med Hered 1996; 7: 114-118).

Keywords : Cerebral palsy; neonatal asphyxia; congenial malformations of the central nervous system; kernicterus; spastic diplegia.

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