Cerebral Palsy

treatment

A. WHAT IS CEREBRAL PALSY?

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a non progressive disorder of the brain that leads to inability in performing movements due to lack of muscle co-ordination or excessive tightness of the muscles. The worldwide prevalence of CP is 1.5 to 4 per 1000 live births.It is a condition in which the patient will experience abnormal brain development or injury to the brain as it grows. It may occur before or after birth, or during birth or early childhood. It is often described as an ‘umbrella term’ as it applies to a compilation of conditions where there is largely a disorder of voluntary movement or co-ordination.

ABOUT CEREBRAL PALSY

A child with cerebral palsy finds difficulty in controlling movements as they grow up and mature. The nature of his condition may change as the child continues to grow. But again cerebral palsy is not progressive; the damage to the brain does not change. It is important to note that all the children with cerebral palsy do not have similar symptoms. So in accordance to that, all their treatments and therapies are adapted to individual needs. Generally we talk about three main types of cerebral palsy like spastic, dyskinetic and ataxic cerebral palsy. These types of cerebral palsy affect the body and the muscle tone of the brain area. People with cerebral palsy may show a combination of these types.

SYMPTOMS OF CEREBRAL PALSY

The injury that occurs in CP is not fixable in most cases and the occurrence of the disabilities is permanent. The signs and symptoms of children with Cerebral palsy are:

Lack of muscle coordination when performing voluntary movements (ataxia)
Stiff or tight muscles and exaggerated reflexes (spasticity)
Weakness in one or more arm or leg
Walking on the toes, a crouched gait, or a “scissor” gait
Variations in muscle tone, either too stiff or too floppy
Excessive drooling or difficulties swallowing or speaking
Shaking (tremor) or random involuntary movements
Delays in reaching motor skill milestones
Difficulty with precise movements such as writing or buttoning a shirt

In addition some cases of cerebral palsy may display intellectual disability, seizure, delayed growth and development, impaired vision and hearing loss. The symptoms of CP vary in category and seriousness of one person to another person and may change in an individual over time.

CAUSES OF CEREBRAL PALSY

An injury to the brain or a malfunction in the brain during the developmental stages can cause cerebral palsy. This occurs during or after birth based upon the type and timing of the injury.
The rate of CP in infants can constituted to the following causes:

Reduced oxygen supply to the brain due to the umbilical cord wrapping around the neck of the child during child birth
Physical injury or infections during pregnancy
Complications associated with premature birth
Decreased oxygen supply to the brain as a result of critical illness at birth ( neonatal encephalopathy)
Development of the brain in an unusual shape or structure
The effect of genetic mutations on the brain cells

B. STEM CELL THERAPY FOR CEREBRAL PALSY

Even though autism is a complex neurodevelopment disorder, several researchers have come together to comprehend the reasons as to why autism develops and it’s after effects on the brain.

HOW CELL THERAPY WORKS IN CEREBRAL PALSY

Until recent times, it was assumed that brain damage during birth time can be permanently damaging. But it has been proven with recent study in nervous tissue regeneration that it is now possible to repair the damaged brain tissues. Stem cells are derived from different sources can be used for Cell therapy. Our approach at NeuroGen BSI makes the usage of autologous bone marrow derived mononuclear cells for transplantation. These transplanted stem cells have the capability to migrate to the damage tissue part of the brain and settle in the affected areas to help repair the damage. They release some trophic factors that reduces the damaging processes and make a distinction of several types of cell types of the nervous system like oligodendrocytes, glial cells and other cells of the nervous system.

The main mechanisms that help tissue repair and regeneration include:

Prevention of cell death in neuronal population
Establishment of new blood vessels
Cell multiplication and integration
Establishment of new neuronal maps in the brain in order to learn new functions.

These mechanisms restore and renew the damaged tissues and restore activity in the affected area which is a marked clinical improvement. It plays a diversified role in overall development and improvement. Autologous BMMNCs do not present any side effects and do not face an immune rejection. It is derived from the same patient and are thus freed from all ethical issues around the usage of stem cells.

THE NEUROGEN OUTCOME

We have successfully treated over 987 cerebral palsy patients with our complete approach to direct and support our patients. The patients who have been have taken care of at our centre have shown huge improvements. The symptoms that are seen in cerebral palsy are oromotor or speech, balance, trunk activity, upper limb activity, lower limb activity, muscle tone and ambulation. Altogether they affect the daily activities of life. Patients tend to show greater improvement after their Cell therapy. and subsequent rehabilitation.

In a recent study report, 92.6% of our patients found Cell therapy. to be a safe and effective form of therapy. When we made a follow up on our record of four years out of the 108 patients, we show significant improvements of 15.74% and 48.14% of patients showed fair improvement and 28.7% showed mild improvements. When we record the positive improvement of our patients, we do not just keep an update on the symptomatic improvement but also make changes in their brain metabolism as monitored in their PET-CT scans.