Umbilical Cord Blood Treatment for Cerebral Palsy

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Cerebral palsy is a neurological injury to the brain that affects movement, mobility, and normal body functions. Recently, a young toddler underwent an experimental treatment that used his own umbilical cord blood, saved in a private blood bank following his birth, to treat his cerebral palsy. Says the National Medical Director for United Cerebral Palsy, Dr. Dara Richardson-Heron, "We would love for research like this to put us out of business."

Nearly 1 in every 300 children in the United States alone suffers from cerebral palsy, caused by brain damage prior to or during the birth process. The disease causes motor disability and is caused by infection of amniotic fluid or oxygen deprivation during development or the birth process.

While cord blood has been used recently to successfully help treat cancer and blood disorders as well as bone marrow transplantation, research and development into inherited disorders are also being pursued. Parents around the world are saving their child's umbilical cord blood for use in the future, if necessary, because cord blood can travel through the body and regenerate damaged tissues.

Using a person's own blood or umbilical cord blood prevents the risk of rejection of foreign matter by the body. Further research and development will certainly be pursued in this area, but doctors are cautioning patients and the research community that further studies in larger demographic groups will be necessary to determine whether such an avenue to treat cerebral palsy is indeed a viable and reliable option.

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