Medical brain notes 7

  CEREBRAL PALSY About two out of every thousand children suffer from cerebral palsy. It is a congenital disease of the brain, in which the development of either both lower limbs or both upper and lower limbs is very slow, along with a degree of mental retardation and seizures, emanating from brain, therefore this disease is called cerebral palsy. Thus cerebral palsy literally means – damage to the developing brain, as discussed in previous chapters. Different mental and physical activities are controlled by specific portions of the brain. Mental or physical disabilities including speech, memory, and learning defects relate to the part of the brain damaged. Hence, patients of cerebral palsy may have one or more disabilities and two patients with cerebral palsy may have totally different symptoms. The unique characteristic of this disease is that it gets better with advancement of age. The disease does not progress further. Thus if the disease is progressing and worsening, over a pe...

  Causes : In some cases, cerebral palsy occurs due to oxygen deficiency during birth. In majority of the cases it occurs during pregnancy due to the environment in the womb or defects in development of the fetus. It is occasionally genetic. As we have seen cerebral palsy results from brain damage, the causes are as follows: (A) Prenatal (before birth) 1.   Premature delivery. 2.   Viral infection to the mother during pregnancy. 3.   Rh -Bloodgroup incompatibility. 4.   Hereditory diseases. 5.   Maternal diseases during pregnancy, problems of fetal development. (B) Perinatal (during birth) 1.   Prolonged labour or abnormality of fetal heart rate. 2.   Injury to the baby’s scalp during delivery. 3.   Umbilical cord around the baby’s neck leading to the       brain damage during labour. (C) Postnatal (after birth) 1.   Seizures 2.   Pathological jaundice 3....

  Treatment : There is no magical remedy or a surgery for cases of cerebral palsy. However, one should not be discouraged with this fact. One has to accept the reality and start special training from the day of diagnosis. Early diagnosis is a must. The training given to small children below age of 5 years, is called early intervention. Considering the exact damage to the child, combination therapy of following different therapists is advocated. a)          Developmental physiotherapist. b)         Child physiotherapist. c)          Speech therapist and audiologist. d)         Occupational therapist. e)          Special teacher. f)           Additionally, an orthopedic surgeon, eye specialist and neurologist as and when required. Tizanidine, Dantrolene...