Cerebral palsy: Cerebral palsy is not a specific disease but rather a syndrome in which a fixed neurologic deficit of motor power and coordination is usually present. There may or may not be mental deficiency. The pathologic changes are due to perinatal birth injury, usually hypoxic/ischemic in etiology. This example shows massive loss of both gray and white matter, with hydrocephalus ex vacuo, due to an episode of anoxia shortly before birth.