German Team Identify Potential Cure for Cerebral Palsy

A team of German doctors have performed the first successful transplantation of umbilical cord stem cells for the treatment of cerebral palsy, a major cause of childhood disability.

At the age of two and a half, patient L.B., previously a normally developing child, suffered a systemic infection which led to a cardiac arrest. The interruption of blood supply to the patient’s brain resulted in lasting and catastrophic brain damage. Thereafter, L.B. displayed a number of profound neurological deficits including spasticity and impaired voluntary movement. Doctors confirmed that the patient had entered a “persistent vegetative state”, a syndrome characterised by impaired awareness from which he was unlikely to recover.

L.B.’s parents scoured the medical literature and asked doctors if an unproven technique, termed autologous umbilical cord stem cell transplantation, could benefit their son. This procedure had previously been applied successfully in patients with childhood blood cancers. Increasingly, parents are opting to store their childrens’ umbilical cords at birth so that their composite stem cells (cells capable of differentiating to yield a range of functional cell sub-types) can be harvested if necessary at a later date.

Nine weeks after L.B.’s cardiac arrest, the patient received an intravenous infusion of umbilical stem cells before being discharged to a unit where he received regular rehabilitation. Forty months after this intervention, L.B. displayed significant improvements in a range of neurological tests, the ability to walk and perform fine, skilled movements. The patient had also acquired language production and comprehension skills in this period. The medical team concluded that given the severity of L.B.’s condition prior to the intervention and the duration of his recovery, these changes could not be ascribed to intense rehabilitation alone. They believe that transplanted stem cells contributed significantly to the observed improvements in L.B.’s neurological symptoms and the length and success of his recovery. The authors of the study hope that this technique will soon be approved and refined to produce a safe and effective treatment for cerebral palsy.

The full article can be found at: http://www.hindawi.com/crim/transplantation/2013/951827/