SYNOPSIS

Many gains have been made in treating hemiplegic cerebral palsy in recent years.  These include a better understanding of diagnosis, imaging, risk factors and treatments.  In this Grand Round we aim to describe:

1. Key abnormal motor developmental milestones for diagnosing hemiplegic cerebral palsy

2. Key features of neuro-imaging findings in hemiplegic cerebral palsy.

3. Risk factors

4. The neurodevelopmental patterns for hemiplegic cerebral palsy

5. An overview of evidence-informed “developmental” treatments (for example, constraint therapy, botulinum toxin therapy).

SPEAKERS

Darcy L. Fehlings MD MSc FRCP(C) is Head of the Division of Developmental Paediatrics and is a Professor in the Department of Paediatrics, at the University of Toronto. She is the inaugural holder of the Bloorview Children’s Hospital Foundation Chair in Developmental Paediatrics. Dr. Fehlings is a Senior Clinician Scientist in the Bloorview Research Institute. Her research focuses on the innovation and evaluation of interventions for children with cerebral palsy. She is the lead investigator of an Ontario Brain Institute integrated neuroscience network focused on children with cerebral palsy (CP-NET) and leads the CP Discovery Project in the Canadian NeuroDevNet Networks of Centres of Excellence. Professor Fehlings is the current president of the American Academy for Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine (AACPDM).