Genetic Study Sheds New Light on Cerebral Palsy Cause

The causes of cerebral palsy have long been debated and often are attributed to in utero infections, premature birth, or brain injury to the baby near or during delivery, usually from a lack of oxygen. But many young children diagnosed with cerebral palsy have not experienced such events. New research, the largest genetic study of cerebral palsy, supports previous findings and provides "the strongest evidence to date that a significant portion of cerebral palsy cases can be linked to rare genetic mutations, and in doing so identified several key genetic pathways involved," said co-senior author Dr. Michael Kruer, a neurogeneticist at Phoenix Children's Hospital and the University of Arizona College of Medicine.