Benché tale denominazione figuri in tutta la letteratura internazionale, tale termine, che indica un’emiplegia (paralisi) completa (incompleta = emiparesi)  si riferisce ad un sintomo conseguenza di una lesione del cervello e quindi non identifica una malattia.
Possiamo distinguere :

1)  Paralisi cerebrale infantile = che può essere presente alla nascita
Deriva da sofferenza fetale, ischiemia neonatale, Malformazioni, emorragie neonatali ecc.. Data la eziologia molteplice necessita di un accurato e completo bilancio neuroradiologico.

2)  Paralisi da ischiemia cerebrale
Rientra nell’ambito delle malattie cerebro vascolari

3)  Paralisi da emorragia cerebrale
Rientra nell’ambito della malattia circolatoria cerebrale.

Ne consegue che il termine paralisi cerebrale si applica a sintomo causato da molteplici cause cerebrali e quindi il paziente va inquadrato nella patologia che ha determinato la paralisi (emiplegia).

Brunei, 11 years old

Gordon was born prematurely, and a Cerebral Palsy severely affected his muscle control: he had never been able to relax his legs or his fingers on his own. He also had difficulty in pronouncing words clearly.

Before the treatment

Gordon hoped to mitigate his severe muscle tension and gain some control of his movement.

Canada, 8 months

Before he was born, he had an unknown chronic condition that caused a lack of oxygen supply to his brain. Diagnosis: ischemic brain injury. A magnetic resonance done on July 15, 2005, showed "no sign of hemorrhage or stroke with hyperintense signals in both hemispheres at the grey/white junction and involvement of internal capsule and corpus callosum, consistent with generalized ischemic brain injury."

Iran, 6 and a half years old

Alireza had cerebral palsy (between grade 3 and 4) due to an intraventricular hemorrhage occurred two days after his birth.

Before the treatment

He could move his entire body, but was quite spastic: Ali could not keep his head up, nor could sit or stand by himself. Had much difficulty in sleeping and stayed awake crying four or five times a night. He could not speak.