Aetiology
The causes of a floppy infant can be classified as paralytic or non-paralytic.
Paralytic or peripheral causes of a floppy infant include:
- anterior horn cell lesions:
- Werdnig-Hoffman disease
- trauma to the spinal cord
- poliomyelitis
- myelomeningocoele
- perpheral nerve lesions:
- Guillain-Barre
- lead poisoning
- neuromuscular junction - myasthenia gravis
- muscle lesions:
- muscular dystrophies
- Pompe's disease
- congential myopathies
Non-paralytic or central causes include:
- brain stem disorders such as cerebral palsy or degenerative central nervous system disease
- pervasive developmental disorders, like Down's syndrome or Prader-Willi syndrome
- benign hypotonia
- systemic disorders, including systemic infection, malnutrition, hypothyroidism, congenital heart disease
Related pages
- Poliomyelitis
- Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS)
- Meningomyelocoele
- Muscular dystrophies
- Lead poisoning
- Congenital myasthenia gravis
- Prader-Willi syndrome
- Pompe's disease
- Congenital myopathies
- Neonatal sepsis
- Werdnig-Hoffman disease
- Down's syndrome
- Malnutrition
- Congenital paediatric cardiac disease
- Cerebral palsy
- Benign congenital hypotonia
- Hypothyroidism
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