MRI in five term children with congenital hemiplegia without clinically apparent prenatal or perinatal difficulties showed a focal or porencephalic enlargement of the lateral ventricle and periventricular T2 prolongation, which were identical to findings of periventricular venous infarction seen in preterm children. Some cases of congenital hemiplegia in term neonates may be due to clinically silent periventricular venous infraction that occurred in utero