Additionally, the child's entire body may be underweight and dwarf-like. Motor functions often are poor, ranging from simple clumsiness to spastic quadriplegia. Speech development often is sub-normal. The child may suffer convulsions, and be hyperactive or mentally retarded. Treatment for microcephaly is essentially symptomatic and supportive.
Prognosis varies according to the severity of child's associated abnormalities.
Life expectancy usually is short. A very rare disorder, porencephaly is a condition in which a cyst or cavity develops in a cerebral hemisphere. The disorder can occur before or after birth, and may have a number of different causes, including absence of brain development and lesions that destroy brain tissue. Porencephalic cysts can sometimes be detected in infancy. Severely affected infants usually display symptoms shortly after birth, and diagnosis usually is confirmed before age 1, either by transillumination of the skull or diagnostic imaging, such as CT, MRI, or ultrasonography.