Correlation of Neuroanatomical Structures Related to Speech in Cerebral Palsy Patients Aged 0-17: A Retrospective MRI Study.

Background/Objectives: Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a non-progressive clinical condition characterized by secondary issues, including speech impairments. Our study aims to evaluate the volumes of brain areas related to speech in patients diagnosed with CP between the ages of 0-17. Methods: this study includes the images of 84 children: 42 in the control group who applied to the hospital between the specified dates and were reported as healthy by MRI from the patient records, and 42 patients with CP. Results: in the CP group, white and gray matter, cerebrum, cerebellum, thalamus, lobus frontalis, lobus temporalis, lobus parietalis, lobus insularis, gyrus cinguli, and nuclei basales volumes were observed to decrease statistically significantly compared to the control group (p ˂ 0.001). Conclusions: we found a significant decrease in the volumes of speech-related brain areas in CP patients, indicating that CP can significantly impact the brain's speech-related regions.