Question
A friend’s child was born looking healthy and chubby, but recently it was said that the child has cerebral palsy, with delayed development and no smiling or suckling. The friend said it was due to difficult labor during childbirth, a medical accident during the delivery process, and everyone is very upset.
Answer
Cerebral palsy symptoms typically manifest in infancy, characterized by abnormal posture and lack of motor development. Although brain damage or abnormal brain development is non-progressive, the clinical manifestations of brain damage usually change with the repair and development of the brain damage. Preterm infants most commonly exhibit pathological changes such as periventricular leukomalacia and hemorrhagic infarction around the ventricles. Full-term infants have a complex pathological type, usually related to hypoxic-ischemic brain damage. Damage can lead to the loss of neurons in the basal ganglia and thalamus, gliosis, accompanied by increased myelination, presenting a marble-like texture, which is a typical change seen in nuclear jaundice and in hypoxic-ischemic brain tissue as well.