DYSKINETIC CEREBRAL-PALSY AND BIRTH ASPHYXIA

Of 115 children with dyskinetic cerebral palsy (CP) in the Mersey regi on, 17 were born at term and at an appropriate weight for age, and hav e preserved cognitive abilities. 10 of these are likely to have sustai ned intrapartum asphyxial brain-damage as the cause of their CP. In su ch circumstances, a characteristic pattern is usually seen of severe f etal distress occurring late in labour, severe but short-lived birth a sphyxia and only mild or moderate hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy. Th is clinical picture should be distinguished from the pattern of birth asphyxia which precedes the development of spastic quadriplegic CP.