Cerebral Palsy

What is known for sure is that cerebral palsy is a disorder of the brain. People with the disorder are either afflicted with uncontrolled motor skills due to brain damage in the part controlling movement, mental retardation, learning disabilities, visual problems, low sensory levels, or a combination of these symptoms.

So, is cerebral palsy genetic? Well, scientists it isn’t, but then again, some scientists think the role of genetics should not be overlooked.

The difficulty in answering the question “is cerebral palsy genetic?” is caused by several things. First of all, there are several types of cerebral palsy since the term covers a number of neurological disorders. There is what is called acquired cerebral palsy and congenital cerebral palsy.

Acquired cerebral palsy is not genetic and can come about through different ways. This type is caused mainly by brain injury, infections and severe jaundice after birth.

Congenital cerebral palsy can be due to genetics but can also be caused by complications during birth such asphyxia which accounts for about 5-10% of cases of cerebral palsy. Other reasons include maternal infections or the fetus being exposed to toxic substances causing brain damage.

Cerebral palsy isn’t hereditary, it can’t be passed from one generation to the next, which would lead one to believe it is not genetic, but studies in Asia have shown that in a large portion of cases the parents were first cousins, therefore leading one to think a genetic factor can’t be ruled out entirely.

Also, thanks to imaging technologies like MRI, researchers have been able to identify genetic mutations and deletions leading to abnormal fetal brain development.

Is cerebral palsy genetic or not? The debate is still alive. There is of course a lot more to the question than this, but what is certain is that there isn’t any one cause. There are many factors that come into play just as there are many forms of cerebral palsy. Brain damage is the reason and there are many ways the brain can be damaged.

This article is a brief overview of cerebral palsy history, if you have more information or would like to know more, please let us know by leaving a comment.

First known as cerebral paralysis, cerebral palsy was indentified by an english surgeon, Dr Willian John Little, in 1860, though his work on cerebral palsy began in the 1930s but was unnamed. He suggested that brain damage caused by asphyxia during birth may be the cause. His work focused on spastic cerebral palsy, or spastic diplegia, which was first referred to as Little’s Disease. Dr Little is the first known person in cerebral palsy history to have devoted time to study the disorder.

In 1889, William Osler published “The Cerebral Palsies of Children”, making the term “cerebral palsy” widespread. In it he talks about the nervous system and it’s connection to clinical observations.

Then in 1897 Sigmund Freud, then a neurologist, thought the disorder was due to problems at the embryonical stages, or at least before birth. His main point was that this would explain other forms of cerebral palsy. He was subsequently proven right but his idea was not widely accepted until the 1960s. His study of the condition is probably the most important one in cerebral palsy history since it allowed a shift in the focus of what the causes actually are.

During the 20th century, advancements in pharmaceutical research, and an increased awareness of cerebral palsy, led to promising discoveries with the use of medication and different surgeries being met with some success.

During the 1980s the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes (NINDS) suggested that only a small number of CP cases are a result of asphyxia during birth. In fact cerebral palsy is caused by air depravation at birth only 10% of the time.

Although far from being able to cure cerebral palsy entirely, findings from the last few decades bring hope to many affected by the disorder, as more and more research is done and more people become aware of the need for solutions. With the medical community today having a growing interest in studying cerebral palsy, treatments are sure to keep improving.

That is, in a very small nutshell, cerebral palsy history.