Key role for CAHS in major cerebral palsy study
CAHS researchers Dr Cathryn Poulton and professors Gareth Baynam and Jane Valentine
Child and Adolescent Health Service (CAHS) researchers will play a key role in a major national effort to improve the lives of children with cerebral palsy (CP), the most common cause of physical disability in childhood.
CAHS’ contingent on the project is made up of Professor Jane Valentine, lead of CAHS’ Early intervention service, Professor Gareth Baynam Director of the Perth Children’s Hospital-based Rare Care Centre, and King Edward Memorial Hospital clinical geneticist, Dr Cathryn Poulton.
The national initiative – awarded more than $2.9 million in Commonwealth funding under the Medical Research Future Fund – will use advanced genetic technology to enhance the testing and diagnosis of cerebral palsy, and support implementation of more timely and personalised care.
More than 500 children with CP will be offered genomic testing as part of the research. This will help refine clinical criteria for genomic testing and identify new genetic causes of CP, with the aim of achieving genetic diagnosis for 50 to 70 per cent of children within the first year of life.
Professor Valentine reveals that causes of CP are poorly understood, but that research shows more than 30 per cent of CP has a genetic cause.
‘Providing a genetic diagnosis will unlock new opportunities for earlier and targeted interventions, with the potential to reduce or prevent disability,’ she says.