CP presents with patterns of spasticity (hypertonia),increased reflex tenderness, muscle paresis,.... 

Cerebellar ataxia: dysdiadochokinesis, dysmetria, tremor (e.g. intentional), (in some cases) hypotonia

kind regards,

Cerebral palsy is a persistent disorder of movement and posture, caused by a nonevolutionary CNS injury (in the case of ataxic CP with an injury in the cerebellum) during the early period of brain development, generally limited to first three years of life.

Cerebellar ataxia is a symptom of a lesion in the cerebellum or in one of its tracks (afferent and efferent) secondary to trauma or a neurodegenerative disease (e.g. SCA, Friedreich ...). In the case of neurodegenerative diseases there is an evolutionary component that has not ataxic PC.

Regards, 

Jonathan

Thanks Mr. Hernández. So there is a clear difference in the cause. Is there any difference in the possible symptoms?

CP presents with patterns of spasticity (hypertonia),increased reflex tenderness, muscle paresis,.... 

Cerebellar ataxia: dysdiadochokinesis, dysmetria, tremor (e.g. intentional), (in some cases) hypotonia

kind regards,

Thank you very much for the clarified answer, Ms. Mingels.

Cerebellar ataxia refers to disordered contractions of agonists  and antagonists muscles and lack of coordination between movements at different joints typically seen in patients with cerebellar lesions.

Cerebral Ataxia, also known as Cerebellar Ataxia or Cerebellar Ataxia Syndrome, is similar to ataxic cerebral palsy in some ways but different in other type of cerebral palsy (like athetoid CP, spastic CP etc).  They are both marked by the same symptoms such as an unsteady walk, poor muscle tone, and lack of coordination.

Unlike Ataxic CP, Cerebral Ataxia doesn’t necessarily occur in birth.  It can also be classified as acute, where the disorder appears suddenly and in high severity, or chronic, wherein the disorder progresses over a stretched out period of time.  Cerebral Ataxia can even be recurrent and happen on and off over short or long periods of time. There are even cases where it develops at a late age but the patient can still live for years afterwards.

Also like Ataxic Cerebral Palsy, Cerebral Ataxia has many different causes.  They can include infectious diseases, genetic conditions, tumors, trauma, and vascular conditions.  Because many of these conditions can happen at any point in someone’s life, it is possible to develop Cerebral Ataxia at any age.  The most likely people to develop the disorder are children under three years of age who have experienced a viral infection.

Whereas, the main aetiology of CP can broadly classified in to three headings includes pre-natal, peri-natal and post-natal causes.

CP is a non progressive CNS disorder that causes perceptual and neuromotor disability with an onset in infancy or early childhood. Most CNS instults are pre or perinatal in origin.

Autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxias are a group of heterogenous disorders, usually caused by loss function of key enzymes and functional proteins in the metabolic pathways of lysosomes and/or mitochondria.