What causes cerebral palsy?

Why does your child have cerebral palsy? The simplest answer to this question is because your child has brain damage. This leads naturally into the second question: Why does your child have brain damage? There are many possible answers to this second question, because there are many reasons children can sustain brain damage. Your doctor must carefully review your child's health history and conduct a variety of medical and neurological tests to help determine the cause. Cerebral palsy is caused by an injury to the brain before, during, or shortly after birth. In many cases, no one knows for sure what caused the brain injury or what may have been done to prevent the injury. A large number of factors which can injure the developing brain may produce cerebral palsy. In general, however, there are two problems that can cause cerebral palsy:

1. failure of the brain to develop properly (developmental brain malformation)
2. neurological damage to the child's developing brain

Developmental malformations: Occasionally, something may disrupt the brain's normal development process. A fetus's brain may fail to develop the usual number of brain cells, communication between brain cells may be impaired, or brain cells may not migrate to the areas they are supposed to. Causes of these malformations are frequently unknown, but can include genetic disorders, chromosome abnormalities with either too much or too little genetic material, or faulty blood supply to the brain. Developmental brain malformations in the areas of the brain which control voluntary movement may cause cerebral palsy.

Neurological Damage: If your child does not have a developmental brain malformation, then their cerebral palsy may be the result of an injury to their brain before, during, or after birth. These injuries are most often caused by problems associated with premature births, difficult deliveries, neonatal medical complications, or trauma to the brain. Types of problems that can lead to brain injuries include:

1. lack of oxygen before, during, or after birth.
2. bleeding in the brain.
3. toxic injuries, or poisoning, form alcohol or drugs used by the mother.
4. head trauma resulting from a birth injury, fall, car accident, or other cause.
5. severe jaundice, very low glucose levels, or other metabolic disorders.
6. infections of the nervous system such as encephalitis or meningitis.

Whatever the cause of your child's cerebral palsy, the severity of the brain damage generally depends on the type and timing of the injury. For example, in very premature babies, bleeding into the brain (intraventricular hemorrhage) can cause extensive damage. Also, the longer an unborn child goes without oxygen, the greater the extent of brain tissue damage.

10% to 15% of cerebral palsy is caused from a recognized brain injury, such as infection (like meningitis), bleeding into the brain, and damage caused by lack of oxygen. It is very important that you understand that a brain injury caused during delivery in many cases could have been prevented. Medical mistakes are responsible for thousands and thousands of cerebral palsy cases. It would be virtually impossible for a parent, on their own, to determine if a medical mistake caused their child's cerebral palsy or brain damage. It is only through the concerted efforts of a legal/medical team that can answer the question, "was my child's cerebral palsy preventable?"