Cerebral Palsy or CP is the name given to a group of neurodegenerative disorders that appear during the early childhood or infancy. These disorders permanently cause impairment of muscle coordination and body movements. Stem cell therapy for Cerebral Palsy Treatment is the new hope of thousands of children suffering from the disease.
Causes of Cerebral Palsy
A damage of white brain matter in the form of severe head trauma and injury after birth can be a cause of CP. Cerebral palsy can also be caused by genetic disorders, pre-term births, abnormal brain development, bleeding within the brain (because of formation of blood clots in brain when the baby is inside the womb),gestational diabetes ,gestational high blood pressure etc or Asphyxia (lack of oxygen) are other causes of CP.
Signs and Symptoms of CP
Signs of CP include stiff muscles, exaggerated reflexes, poor muscle coordination, shaking and tremors, muscle tone variations, poor oromotor control (delay in speech) ,inability or difficulty to move hands and legs , delay in attaining gross motor skills ( sitting, walking , running etc and fine motor skills ( eating, writing etc).
Different Forms of CP:
CP exhibits itself in different forms and these forms have varying types, extent and location of abnormalities.
● Spastic Cerebral Palsy
This is the most common kind of CP. Affected child shows limited movements and stiff muscles.
Spastic cerebral palsy is further divided into:
1. Spastic Hemiplegia:
It involves total paralysis on one side of the body,
2. Spastic Hemiparesis:
Muscle weakness and/or mild paralysis on the affected side of the body.
3. Spastic Diplegia:
It involves muscle stiffness/tightness in legs, and may also affect arms.
4. Spastic Quadriplegia:
This is the most severe form of spastic CP. It involves stiffness in all four extremities and limited mobility; the children are mostly bed ridden.
● Dyskinetic Cerebral Palsy
These forms of cerebral palsy have variable movement that is involuntary i.e. outside of their control. These involuntary movements are noticeable when the child attempts to do any voluntary movement or move.
Different forms of Dyskinetic movements are:
1. Dystonis:
Twisting and repetitive movements
2. Athetosis:
Slow, ‘stormy’ movements
3. Chorea:
Dance-like irregular, unpredictable movements
● Ataxic Cerebral Palsy
It is the least common in this form child has lack of coordination and balance. Along with tremors child may also have speech and oral problems.
● Mixed Cerebral Palsy
It is a combination of movement problems with traits of spastic, athetoid and ataxic CP.
● Hypotonic Cerebral Palsy
The infant or child with hypotonic cerebral palsy appears floppy. In early infancy, hypotonia can be easily identified by the inability of the infant to develop head control when made to do pull to sit.
Stem Cell Therapy for Cerebral Palsy
Stem cells have unique healing properties and are used today for Cerebral palsy treatment. They are regenerative cells, which can multiply, divide and also differentiate to assume the particular neural functions. Premier health-care institutions like NeuroGen Brain and Spine Institute use stem cells derived from bone marrow for Cerebral Palsy stem cell therapy. The cells, once transplanted in the body of CP patients, migrate to the affected areas of brain. The stem cells secrete a number of trophic factors and also differentiate to form healthy brain cells like glial cells, oligodendrocytes and other kinds of nervous system cells. Post stem cell therapy, the CP affected child shows improvement in speech, trunk activity, balance, upper and lower limb activity, ambulation and muscle tone, among other areas.
