| Description |
Cerebral palsy is a lifelong chronic but non-progressive disease of central nervous system. It manifests in early childhood as a motor and developmental impairment. It develops as a result of insults influencing the developing brain prenatally, perinatally or shortly after birth. The main causes of cerebral pa/syare hypoxic-is-chemicencephalopathyandpreterm birth of premature baby with low birth weight. The clinical manifestation is dominated by neurological symptoms; however the patient simultaneously suffers from health problems in many other organ systems, either as a result of defective innervation or direct exposure to the causative event/agent. The associated difficulties complicate the lives of children and their families, reduce their quality of life, increase morbidity and have a negative impact on life expectancy. Nevertheless, these health problems usually are not in the centre of medical care for patients with cerebral palsy. Above all there are swallowing problems, disorders of the digestive tract (especially impaired motility of the digestive tract), nutritional and growth problems, respiratory tract diseases, urogenital tract symptoms, speech disorders and other specific learning difficulties, sensory impairment (especially impairment of sight), perception and behaviour changes. The above mentioned clearly shows the necessity to provide the children with cerebral palsy with overall care, preferably in specialized Centre for Complex Care of Children with Cerebral Palsy in big hospitals. However, the child's general practitioner and other non-medical professionals should always be part of the team. Key words: cerebral palsy, spasticity.hypoxicischemicencephalopathy, premature baby, gastroesophageal reflux, duodenogastric reflux, psychomotor retardation, ret/nopathy of prematurity, Centre for Complex Care of Children with Cerebral Palsy, inclusive education, botulinum toxin, balneotherapy.
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