Causes Of Cerebral Palsy

The Most Causes of Cerebral Palsy

The brain damage may be due to one of number causes of cerebral palsy, up to 50 per cent of causes of cerebral palsy have no known cause at present. The following are some of the most common known causes.

Cerebral palsy occurs in approximately two per one thousand live births. Thirty percent incidences of cerebral palsy seem to be caused by prenatal complications, 60 % by perinatal complications and 10 % by postnatal complications.

Prenatal cause ( before birth )

Causes of cerebral palsy in the prenatal such as haemorrhage ( bleeding ) in specific area of the brain is a common cause with premature children who develop cerebral plasy. The other prenatal causes of cerebral palsy are infection such as toxoplasmosis, rubella and cytomegalic inclusion disease. Infection may be passed from mother to child in the womb. The causes of cerebral palsy with rubella is a more commonly known virus which can be passed to the child in the womb and cause brain damage.

The other prenatal  causes of cerebral palsy are environmental factors, the mother can be affected by something she eats or drinks, or by breathing dangerous poisons in the air, which can be passed on to the child before birth.

Perinatal Cause ( at or around the time of birth )

The causes of cerebral palsy when around the time of birth include anoxia or asphyxia ( lack of oxygen to the brain ), this is a common cause in causes of cerebral palsy where there are such difficulties at birth as, for example, the umbilical cord being wrapped round the child’s neck, the mother haemorrhaging before the baby has been safely delivered or contractions which are so severe that the supply of oxygen from the placenta is reduced.

Postnatal cause ( in the first five years of life )

Causes include trauma from skull fractures, wounds, and contusions of the brain or from subdural hematomas ( head injury ), the infections in the early life may be causes of cerebral palsy  such as meningitis, encephalitis, and brain abscesses. The other causes of cerebral palsy in postnatal is lack of oxygen be caused by the brain being deprived of oxygen for a period of time due to accident or choking during the first five years of life.