Stem Cell Treatment for Cerebral Palsy

The sequence of events for CP goes as follows (7, 8):

• Perinatal brain injury/insult, i.e. from the time of pregnancy till a few months after birth, happens for one reason or another.
• The brain receives a severe insult during such a critical time of ongoing brain maturation.
• This could happen due to difficult labor, due to severe neonatal infection (ex. meningitis), or even due to neonatal head trauma.
• All of these insults cause injury to different brain cells, especially one type of cells known as oligodendrocytes.
• Some insults could reduce blood/oxygen supply to the brain (hypoxia), some insults increase the level of toxic brain free-radicals, and some release pro-inflammatory substances inducing cellular damage of brain cells and oligodendrocytes.
• Oligodendrocytes are the cells responsible for something called “Myelination” of the neuronal axons within the white matter of the central nervous system which allows neural signal transmission within the brain and from the brain to the whole body.
• Having an inappropriately myelinated nervous system – known as leukomalacia – leads to lacking brain connectivity and characteristic motor features of CP.
• The severity or extent of brain injury usually correlates with the severity of the child’s motor symptoms.

Symptoms of CP differ greatly from one child to the other. It can also affect the whole body, or be limited to only one side of the body or even only one limb. It typically affects movement and coordination, speech and eating, development, as well as other problems (9). Movement and Coordination

• Stiff muscles/Spasticity (the most common finding)
• Muscle tone abnormalities (Either being too stiff or too sloppy)
• Stiff muscles with normal reflexes (Rigidity)
• Tremors
• Lack of balance and coordination (Ataxia)
• Writhing movements
• Difficulty walking (ex. crouched gait/scissors-like gait/wide gait)
• Favoring one body side (ex. dragging on side while crawling/reaching out using one hand)
• Difficulty in fine motor skills (ex. using cutlery/buttoning their clothes)

Speech and Eating

• Speech delay
• Difficulty speaking
• Difficulty eating or chewing
• Excessive drooling

Development

• Learning difficulties
• Intellectual disability
• Growth delay (being shorter or thinner than expected for age)
• Delay in motor skills

Other Problems

• Seizures
• Hearing problems
• Vision problems or eye movement abnormalities
• Abnormal pain/touch sensation
• Bladder/Bowel problems (ex. constipation or urinary incontinence)
• Behavioral or psychiatric problems

Treating CP usually includes doctors from different medical departments including physiotherapists; audiologists; speech therapists; pediatric doctors; and psychiatrists. The currently used treatment modalities offer no cure, and they only aim to improve your child’s daily functioning and ability to care for themselves. Treatment differs according to the main presentation your child presents with. Current treatments that are widely used include (1, 2, 10): Pharmacological/Medical Treatment Medications are primarily used to treat muscle spasticity commonly seen in CP – which causes lots of pain for the child and reduces their full movement potential. Relief is provided to the child through using muscle relaxants (ex. Baclofen tablets/Botilinium injection/Vallium injection/Dantrolene tablets). Physiotherapy Physiotherapy is one of the most importantly used treatment modalities. It can be used to improve muscle strength and flexibility, prevent joint contracture/stiffness, and improve balance and gait. There is currently a wide array of available exercises that serve a specific function according to the predominant symptom present. Speech Therapy A speech therapist can be integrated into your child’s treatment plan in order to improve the clarity of their speech or to teach them to use sign language. Surgical Intervention This includes orthopedic surgeries for children with severe deformities or contractures in order to minimize pain and improve mobility. Surgeons might lengthen muscles or tendons in contracted areas. In the case of resistant cases, nerves supplying the spastic muscles might even be cut in order to forcibly relax them. Other treatments Other treatments might be integrated; including anticonvulsants for seizures, psychiatric help for mood disorders, occupational therapy for adults with CP, and hearing aids for hearing impairment. These treatments are merely methods of “Relief” for your child’s symptoms; offering no actual condition improvement. This is where stem cell therapy; once referred to as the “New Savior for Cerebral Palsy Patients”, which regenerates and restores the damaged parts of the brain of patients with CP (7).

Treating CP usually includes doctors from different medical departments including physiotherapists; audiologists; speech therapists; pediatric doctors; and psychiatrists. The currently used treatment modalities offer no cure, and they only aim to improve your child’s daily functioning and ability to care for themselves. Treatment differs according to the main presentation your child presents with. Current treatments that are widely used include (1, 2, 10): Pharmacological/Medical Treatment

There are currently major four available sources for obtaining stem cells; namely (3):

• Umbilical cord-related samples: most widely available and has the least possible side effects or rejection
• Bone marrow samples
• Brain tissue samples
• Embryos

In patients with CP, umbilical cord stem cell therapy has been proven to be the most efficacious type in improving its symptoms as well as the safest with the least side effects. At Beike Technology, in addition to the fact that we use umbilical cord stem cells, we actually use two forms of umbilical cord-related samples – both umbilical cord blood and tissue – donated from healthy mothers after normal birth. Using combined stem cell therapy sources, and routes as will be mentioned later, provides better results and less side effects (7).