Oral pharmacotherapy for the movement disorders of cerebral palsy

Abstract

Movement disorders are a well-recognized feature of some patients with cerebral palsy and often require treatment. However, treatments have been symptomatic and empiric, and there have been few pharmacologic studies. The major movement disorders in cerebral palsy are dystonia and the hyperkinesias choreoathetosis and myoclonus. They may occur in combination, often accompanied by spasticity and sometimes by epilepsy. Some drugs are useful treatments for all of these problems, but others may improve one while worsening another. Pitfalls in management include not diagnosing metabolic/degenerative disorders, which may mimic cerebral palsy, or not recognizing reversible complications of cerebral palsy, which may exacerbate symptoms. This review attempts to summarize empiric drug use and recommendations for therapy, drug studies in extrapyramidal cerebral palsy, and prospects for new drugs or models for the problem. Many new pharmacologic agents are available for study in cerebral palsy. Better methods of detecting basal ganglia injury after perinatal injury in asymptomatic infants may allow early intervention in the biologic process of recovery and adaptation.