Why do People With Cerebral Palsy Often Feel Fatigued?

Persons with cerebral palsy (CP) commonly suffer from fatigue. Fatigue is an important cause of their reduced participation in work or social life. Traditionally, CP-related fatigue has been viewed as related to the person's motor impairment. This view causes habilitation efforts to focus on muscle function. We hypothesize that the feeling of being fatigued must involve the activity of a specific, but un-identified, brain network that represents this particular sensation. We will use electroencephalography (EEG) and 18F-2-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) in CP patients with fatigue of different degrees to identify difference in brain activity that can highlight the presumed 'fatigue network' in the brain. In this work, we build on experience from another study on fatigue in people that have had a brain abscess (see: Cognitive function and fatigue after brain abscess, NCT#: NCT04938362) Clarification of whether fatigue in CP has a muscular or cerebral cause will hopefully inform and improve habilitation efforts for this group, and it may single out fatigue as a separate treatment target.