Recent advances in cerebral palsy

Abstract

Cerebral infantile paralysis comprises a group of disorders of different functions of the central nervous system (CNS) as well as developmental disorders of the CNS. These disorders of development arise in the earliest periods of life. Most conspicuous are the disorders of motor functions which are the basis for all classifications. In a brief comprehensive review of the field of the cerebral paralysis, the following new aspects could be demonstrated: The existence of paucospastic forms of the diparetic or the quadruparetic type with less spasticity but additional symptoms of ataxia and dyskinesia. The change of symptoms in the course of individual maturation. For example, the hypotonia vanishes during the third and fourth yr of life and other symptoms emerge, such as dystonia, or other age dependent dyskinesias arise from the original athetosis. The fact that infantile cerebral paralysis does not only represent a disorder of the central motor control, but that in all types essential sensory disorders can be observed, such as disorders of stereognosis or of double point discrimination. (31 references.)