Clinical study of cerebral palsy in 408 children with periventricular leukomalacia

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the high risk factors, cerebral palsy (CP) subtypes and comorbidities of periventricular leukomalacia (PVL). Based on treatment conditions at a specialist hospital, a cross-sectional clinical study and retrospective analysis of computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging examinations was conducted to evaluate the risk factors, subtypes and comorbidities of CP in children with PVL. Among the 408 children with PVL, 8.58% were born with a weight of ≤1,500 g and 44.36% were born with a weight of ≥2,500 g. In addition, 36.76% of these children had a gestational age of ≤32 weeks and 37.75% had a gestational age of ≥37 weeks. The proportion of the children born with various high risk factors was 95.59%, including perinatal infections and hypoxia. Severe PVL was observed in preterm infants (63.41% with a gestational age of <28 weeks and 21.95% with a gestational age of 28–30 weeks) and low-birth weight infants, which were prone to quadriplegia (43.90%). The common comorbidities included visual and auditory disorders, epilepsy, mental retardation and language barriers. Visual and auditory disorders (26.96%) were the most common comorbidities. PVL was identified primarily in premature and low-birth weight infants. The degree of PVL was found to be negatively correlated with gestational age and birth weight. The degree of PVL in the full-term infants correlated with exposure to infections or hypoxia. Quadriplegia is common among the various subtypes of CP. Visual and hearing disorders are the most common comorbidities of CP; these comorbidities occurred most frequently with quadriplegia.

Evaluation of the relationship between cranial magnetic resonance imaging findings and clinical status in children with cerebral palsy

“…The rate of spastic tetraplegia cases with PVL was higher than expected, which may be related to the majority of the study population consisting of patients with moderate to severe PVL. Shang et al reported that comorbidities were more common in cases of spastic CP and in PVL, and the most common comorbidities were epilepsy and hearing and visual impairment [21]. In our study, epilepsy was more common in patients with PVL but other comorbidities did not differ between patients with and without PVL.…”

Correlation of Apgar score with serum glucose, calcium and electrolytes on the asphyxiated neonates

“…4 Since, glucose, calcium, sodium and potassium are major biochemical components found in blood mediating most of the biochemical reactions, and thus the deviation from normal levels may be a risk factor for brain injury in asphyxiated neonates as well as further development of numerous consequences including fetal distress, periventricular leukomalacia, developmental delay, mental retardation, seizure disorders, paralysis, and so forth. 10 This study was an attempt to determine the relation and prominence of these biochemical abnormalities in neonates with asphyxia.…”

Ventriculomegaly in very‐low‐birthweight infants with Down syndrome

“…6,7 The increased risk of these types of disorders is partially attributed to the increased rates of neonatal brain abnormalities, such as ventriculomegaly, found in VLBW neonates. [7][8][9][10] Of note, ventriculomegaly seen in most infants born preterm is a result of diffuse white matter damage and loss of white matter volume of a previously well-formed parenchyma. [11][12][13][14] Ventriculomegaly that reflects genetically determined maldevelopment of the brain parenchyma (such as ventriculomegaly in Down syndrome) possibly has different prognostic implications.…”