A patient with cerebral palsy whose mother had a traffic accident during pregnancy: a diffuse axonal injury?

A 16-year-old girl had spastic cerebral palsy (CP) with triplegia and focal epilepsy. The patient's past history included her mother's lower abdominal trauma caused by a traffic accident at the 7th month of gestation. Brain examination with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed encephalomalacia at the bilateral parieto-temporal lobes and the left caudate nucleus, segmental narrowing of the splenium of the corpus callosum, dilatation of the left lateral ventricle and an abnormally high intensity at the right posterior portion of the internal capsule. These findings might indicate a diffuse axonal injury (DAI), but not an asphyxic brain damage. In this patient, CP might be caused by an intrauterine DAI when her mother was involved in the accident.