Authors
Megha Raghavan, Sagar Sedani, Manish Prasad
Published in
Archives of disease in childhood. Education and practice edition. Aug 06, 2026. Epub Aug 06, 2026.
Abstract
Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common cause of childhood physical disability, affecting approximately 1 in 400 UK children. Although defined as a non-progressive neurodevelopmental disorder arising from injury to or maldevelopment of the fetal or infant brain, CP is best understood as a clinical description rather than a definitive diagnosis, and a significant proportion of children labelled with CP are subsequently found to have an alternative-and often treatable-condition. This 15-min consultation offers paediatricians a practical framework for recognising when a child's presentation may not be CP. Structured around the dominant motor pattern-spasticity, dyskinesia/dystonia, ataxia, and early encephalopathy or seizures-we review key genetic, metabolic, structural and neurodegenerative mimics, their distinguishing clinical features and initial investigations, illustrated through three clinical vignettes.
PMID:
42562624
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 07 Aug 2026.
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