1. Introduction

Cerebral palsy is a term that implies a disorder of motor function. It is a neurodevelopmental abnormality affecting muscle tone, movement, and motor skills. CP is the result of a nonprogressive damage of the nervous system at its early developmental stage and can be caused by several factors encountered in prenatal, perinatal, or postnatal periods [1]. Although the disorder itself is nonprogressive, the clinical expression changes over time as the brain develops and matures.

The International Consensus in 2005 defined CP as follows [2]: "CP is a group of permanent neurological disorders resulting from nonprogressive brain injury or malformation that occurred in the developing fetal or infant brain and primarily affecting body movement, posture and muscle coordination. The motor dysfunction in CP is often associated with abnormal cognitive abilities including communication and behavior, disturbance in sensation and perception and last but not least, epilepsy and secondary musculoskeletal complications".

There is no consensus in the literature about the prevalence of epilepsy in patients with CP. Studies indicate a very wide range of epilepsy in children with CP. However, it is argued that in certain types of CP, higher rate of epilepsy is found and that an average of 30% of patients with CP exhibit seizures. This figure is proportional to the degree of motor and cognitive disabilities [3, 4].

4. Clinical features and classification of cerebral palsy

intervention.

position.

it is.

phobias.

of ataxia.

53

predominance.

subtype of CP:

support to the family.

Epilepsy and Cerebral Palsy

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.82804

Early signs of CP include as follows:

increased or decreased in the extremities of others.

movements of athetosis, chorea, and dystonia.

The classification of CP is based on the type and distribution of motor abnormalities. Suggestive signs and symptoms may be present in infancy, and severe cerebral palsy can be diagnosed as early as 1 month of age. However, the specific CP syndromes are best recognized in time as the child's brain matures, e.g., spastic CP is usually diagnosed after the age of 6 months, dyskinetic CP usually after 18–20 months old, and the ataxic type even later. Following-up the children with high risk will allow early recognition and

Early diagnosis, in some cases, will enable early intervention for the child by a multidisciplinary team and in addition early psychological and possible financial

Neurobehavioral findings: a neonate who presents with poor feeding with or without recurrent vomiting, irritability, poor sleeping pattern, and poor visual attention should raise suspicion of CP. In addition, prolonged retention or exaggeration of these primitive reflexes is often a premature sign of motor disability. In infants with hyperactive tonic labyrinthine reflex, opisthotonus may occur, or they may roll over at an earlier age than usually expected.

Similarly, children with CP may present inadequate posture in vertical suspension in that they present persistent extension of lower extremities on attempting a sitting

Motor tone and posture: Tone can be normal in some subjects, but it may be

or asymmetric hand fisting beyond 4 months, and abnormal oromotor patterns (tongue thrusting or grimacing) are often the early motor signs. Sometimes increased neck extensor and axial tone may make head control appears better than

hemianopia, and other visual problems. Also, behavioral problems are

Delay in sitting without support beyond 9 months, poor head control, persistent

The abovementioned features may also coincide with intellectual impairment,

frequently found among children with hemiplegic CP including anxiety and specific

CP associated with ataxic movements (loss of orderly muscular coordination, unstable gait) and speech is referred to as ataxic CP and is usually associated with a widespread disorder of motor function. Ataxic CP is rare, and children who present with these findings must be evaluated for other potential causes

Mixed CP is a spastic type with ataxic and/or dyskinetic features of variable

Hypotonic CP is not included in the contemporary classifications. Majority of patients with "hypotonic CP" in early infancy later develop spastic, dyskinetic, or ataxic CP. Table 1 shows the proportion of the different types of CP.

After age 18–24 months, signs and symptoms generally align to a specific

Spastic CP includes spastic diplegia, spastic hemiplegia, and spastic quadriplegia, with accompanying features pointing to an upper motor neuron syndrome like spastic hypertonia, hyperreflexia, extensor plantar responses, and Dyskinetic CP is characterized by involuntary, stereotyped, uncontrolled, recurring
