CEREBRAL PALSY;

Background: Cerebral Palsy is a disorder of movement and postural balance due to insult to the brain. The injury to the developing brain may be prenatal, natal or postnatal. The diagnosis is clinical mainly. The spastic Cerebral Palsy is classified into monoplegic, hemiplegic, diplegic, and quadriplegic types. There is a difference in the frequency of these types of Cerebral Palsy in different studies. The patterns of various forms of Cerebral Palsy emerge gradually with a delay in developmental milestones. A spectrum of associated developmental disabilities has been found to be common in these children. Management is through a multi-disciplinary approach. Objectives: To find out the frequency of different types of Cerebral Palsy and degree of associated developmental delay. Methodology: A cross sectional study was carried out for a period of six months (October 1, 2006 to March 31, 2007) at The Children’s Hospital & Institute of Child Health Lahore. 100 Cases diagnosed as Cerebral Palsy on clinical basis were assessed for the type of cerebral palsy and the degree of associated developmental delay. Results: Out of the total 100 patients 54% had quadriplegia, 32% had diplegia, 10% had himiplegia and 4% had monoplegia. The total fifty-four cases of quadriplegic cerebral palsy 54 had developmental delay and amongst them 4 (7%) had mild delay, 16 (30%) had moderate delay while 34 (63%) had severe delay. Amongst the total forty-six other three types of cerebral palsy 12 (26%) had mild delay, 6 (13%) had moderate delay and 28 (61%) had severe delay. The P-value was >0.05. Conclusions: Quadriplegic is the commonest type of CP, associated with the factors (peri-natal more than socio-demographic) and had significant effect on the developmental parameters.