[Central infantile hypotonia syndrome].

Czechoslovak child neurologists devoted much attention to central infantile hypotonic syndrome (CIHS) in a series of investigations conducted in 1959-1986. They found that it is a developmental syndrome caused by affection of the immature brain, and later, at the age of 3-5 years, it disappears or transforms into other syndromes: most frequently cerebellar syndromes and developmental disintegrations (disintegration of the development of the CNS and medium-grade mental retardation). These groups overlap only little. From the hypotonic syndrome also the spastic syndrome or minor cerebral syndromes may develop. CIHS has, similarly as some other manifestations of CNS affections, multiple causes. One of them is most probably a defect of or lack of development of facilitating pathways of gamma fibres from the cerebellum or possibly from the reticular formation of the brain stem to the spinal cord; another probable cause is longer immaturity of the afferent system (which leads finally to developmental disintegration). It may be assumed that the facilitating systems of pathways develop later and are thus more immature and therefore more vulnerable. According to the latest information it seems that in CIHS also the muscular component participates as prenatal cerebral affections can cause myopathy with hypotonia.