CEREBRAL VISUAL IMPAIRMENT IN CEREBRAL-PALSY - RELATION TO STRUCTURALABNORMALITIES OF THE CEREBRUM

In patients with cerebral palsy (CP), cerebral visual impairment (CVI) is frequently found in addition to ophthalmological disorders. Lesion s in the visual areas are found m CT scans of CP patients with CVI. Th e aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of these sp ecific findings in CP patients with CVI. CT scans of 49 cerebral palsy patents were studied; CVI was diagnosed in 36 patients; in 13 patient s, visual acuity was normal. In 8 patients, comparison with an MRI sca n was possible (6 with CVI, 2 with normal acuity). The CT scans were s cored according to the criteria used by Van Nieuwenhuizen (1987): norm al, abnormalities of the white matter adjacent to the posterior horns of the lateral ventricles, abnormalities of the white matter located u nder the visual cortex, abnormalities of the visual cortex and abnorma lities elsewhere. Abnormalities m the visual areas were found in 15 % of the normal acuity group and in 53 % of the CVI group. In 17 of the 19 CVI patients with abnormalities in the visual areas, the lesions we re located in the white matter surrounding the posterior horns (89 %). MRI imaging revealed the same abnormalities as the CT scans in 6 pati ents, but in one patient the abnormality was seen m more detail and m one patent the lesion m the occipital area was seen only on MRI. MRI e xamination seems to detect at least as many, but m some cases even mor e specific lesions in CVI patients compared to CT scanning, but the nu mbers were too small to allow any definitive conclusions to be drawn.