Abstract: Objective To investigate the relationship between magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) and the type of cerebral palsy (CP) and gestational age at birth.MethodsThe MRI and clinical data of 224 CP children with spastic type were analyzed retrospectively.ResultsAmong these children, 27 cases had spastic hemiplegia, 149 had spastic diplegia, and 48 had spastic tetraplegia. 201 cases (89.7%) had abnormal MRI result. The abnormal rate of MRI in spastic hemiplegia, diplegia and tetraplegia were 100%, 87.2% and 91.7%, respectively. Periventricular leukomalacia (PVL) was observed mostly in children with spastic diplegia, other types of brain lesions were uncommon. In spastic tetraplegia the lesions were more varied. Three predominated types of MRI abnormalities were: PVL (45.8%), term-type brain injuries (20.8%) and congenital brain abnormalies (18.8%). Unilateral lesions were observed mostly in children with hemiplegia spastic diplegia born at term who showed unilateral motor disorder and upper extremity were heavier than lower extremity. Unilateral and bilateral PVL were observed in children with hemiplegia spastic diplegia born at preterm who showed lower extremity were heavier than upper extremity. Of 152 cases with PVL, 108 cases (71.1%) were preterm infants and 44 cases (28.9%) were term infants. Of 22 cases with term-type brain injuries, 20 cases (90.9%) were term infants. PVL was most observed in preterm brain injuries and was observed most in preterm children but was also in term children. Term-type brain injuries (border-zone infarct, basal ganglia-thalamic lesion, subcortical leukomalacia, and multicystic encephalomalacia) were observed most in term and rare in preterm children.ConclusionThe MRI findings in CP show a good correlation with type of CP and gestational age.

Key words: cerebral palsy, magnetic resonance imaging, gestational age