What is Cerebral Palsy?

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is often described as a group of permanent movement disorders which usually appear in early childhood.

Cerebral Palsy Causes

Cerebral palsy is often caused by injury to brain or problem during pregnancy/birth. It can be caused by:

Cerebral Palsy Symptoms are classified into the following types:

Muscular symptoms	Difficulty in walking Difficulty with movements Involuntary movements Co-ordination problems Permanent muscle shortening Muscular rigidity Muscle weakness Muscle spasms Muscle stiffness Overactive reflexes Paralysis of one side
Developmental symptoms	Failure to thrive Learning disability Slow growth Speech delay (in children)
Speech Symptoms	Speech disorder Stuttering
Other Symptoms	Constipation Difficulty swallowing Drooling Hearing loss Physical deformity Scissor gait Spastic gait Teeth grinding Tremor

Depending on the severity of the condition, the cerebral palsy treatment can be as follows:

Self-care	Exercise: A physical exercise like cardio training for half an hour is beneficial. The exercise avoids the muscle injury and also ensures physical function during recovery Cerebral palsy awareness: Special education and awareness that focuses on understanding the needs of the CP patients
Therapy Options	Occupational Therapy for improving daily life Stretching exercises to improve flexibility and physical function Physical Therapy:For restoring the function and strength of the muscles
Medications	Two types of medications are generally used in CP: Muscle Relaxants:To decrease the muscle tension and for relieving muscle pain/discomfort. Sedatives
Surgery	Gastrostomy: A surgical insertion of a tube through the abdomen into the stomach for the purpose of feeding or drainage is called Gastrostomy.

Depending on the severity of the condition the cerebral palsy life span is approximately between 30 and 70 years.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from umbilical cord can be considered as the universal donor cells.

The stem cell treatment involving MSCs helps in treating the cerebral palsy in the following ways:

By stimulating repair of damaged nervous tissue in the brain and the spinal cord
Promoting neuronal growth
Inducing new blood vessel growth
Neurogenesis and astroglial activation
Encourage synaptic connection and axonal remyelination
Decreasing the programmed cell death, and regulate microglial activation
Mesenchymal stem cells stimulate brain repair after stroke and traumatic brain injury

The umbilical cord tissue offers the abundant supply of MSCs
The mesenchymal stem cells are immune system privileged; hence, the cell rejection is not a problem also the Human Leukocyte Antigen matching is not necessary.
The allogeneic stem cells can be administered multiple times over a period of days in uniform dosages containing high cell counts