Can MRI detect cerebral palsy?

Magnetic resonance imaging is a relatively common detection method, which is effective in examining cerebral palsy. If a child shows some symptoms of cerebral palsy after birth, he or she should be examined in time. Various examinations can be performed one month after birth. Generally speaking, MRI is the best and preferred examination method for children with cerebral palsy. It is of great significance for the analysis of the disease and future treatment.

Can MRI diagnose cerebral palsy?

Relationship between abnormal MRI imaging and cerebral palsy in children with cerebral palsy:

Spastic cerebral palsy is mainly characterized by white matter lesions and congenital malformations;

Ataxia-type cerebral palsy basically has congenital cerebellar hypoplasia;

The MRI findings of dyskinetic, hypotonic, and mixed cerebral palsy are diverse and are accompanied by intellectual disability and speech disorders, which are often seen in diffuse white matter changes and brain atrophy.

MRI imaging differs depending on the location of cerebral palsy.

Research by foreign scholars has found that spastic quadriplegia is often manifested by periventricular leukomalacia (66%), hemiplegia is mostly unilateral brain damage; spastic quadriplegia is mainly characterized by congenital brain malformations and full-term brain damage, accounting for 42% and 33% respectively, manifested as extensive, bilateral, diffuse brain damage.

A 2-year-old girl, axial T2WI showed strip-shaped abnormal signal shadows beside the bilateral lateral ventricles, showing high signal, which was considered to be hypomyelination in the white matter of the bilateral lateral ventricles.

A 5-month-old male. Coronal T2WIFLIR scan showed diffuse cerebral atrophy and enlargement of the bilateral lateral and third ventricles, suggesting the possibility of obstructive hydrocephalus.

Male, 6 months old, axial T1WI showed strip-shaped abnormal signal in the right basal ganglia, with high signal, which was considered as calcification in the right basal ganglia

Male, 2 years and 10 months old, sagittal T1WI showed thinning and small body and splenium of corpus callosum, and dysplasia of corpus callosum.

In summary, MRI examination is the preferred method of imaging examination for children with cerebral palsy, and it is of great significance for analyzing the causes of cerebral palsy, guiding diagnosis and treatment, and judging the prognosis. Children with cerebral palsy have a high rate of abnormal MRI findings, and their MRI features are closely related to the child's gestational age, disease type, site of onset, and cause of disease.