We are now raising my nephew who is diagnosed with Cerebal Palsey. His medical history is as follows. He was born addicted to Coke at 33 weeks, his mother had no prenatal care. He did not need any oxygen. Before being released from the hospital he had a head ultrasound which the results were normal. At his 6 month check-up they decided to do a EEG and an MRI because sometimes (more so when laying down) his eyes would roll downward for a split second then right back up, the results for the EEG were normal, but the MRI showed a subdural benign extra-axial fluid of infantcy. At 9 months His Pedi noticed the muscles in his legs were a little tight and he had some ankle clonus and he was behind in development so they did another MRI and said there was periventricular leukomalacia . After seeing a neuroligist he was diagnosed with Cerebal Palsey, he is affected in his arms, legs, and trunk. My question is what caused the PVL? We were told the drugs but why wouldn t it have shown up before then?

Summarized question: Are cerebral palsy and periventricular leukomalacia related ?