A cerebral palsy is a group of permanent movement disorders, that mostly occurs in childhood. It usually involves the movement, muscle tonicity, and imbalance. As its name implies, it’s a condition that affects the brain and associated with the weakness of the muscles. Cerebral palsy can be congenital, and can also be acquired. This disease does occur as a result of many reasons. It may occur when there is a damage to the parts of the brain that controls body functions, such as posture, movement, and balance. Children acquire cerebral palsy when early in life, and this could also be due to injuries during childbirth. On the other hand, some children are born with cerebral palsy, and this can be as a result of injuries, infections, abnormal brain development. The symptoms of this disease vary, and it can range from movement disorders, seizures, body imbalance, and speech disorders. This is the most predominant movement disorder in children. Cerebral palsy has no cure, but its symptoms can be managed with medications and physiotherapies. However, stem cell therapy is a good alternative to the treatment of this disease, and it has proved to be efficient, although research is still ongoing, about how it can be made better. Signaling cells, also known as exosomes also play a part in the management of this disease.
Causes of Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral palsy happens mostly because of damages to the brains. Genetics has also been implicated to be one of the causes of cerebral palsy. However, brain malformation, infections have been noted to play major roles in the development of cerebral palsy.
- Premature delivery: According to statistics, about half of kids with this disease were preterm babies. Majority of the kids were said to have had some injuries during delivery, or just around the time. In addition to this, it has been noted that cerebral palsy is more predominant in kids that are born with a low weight. For example, up to 10% of babies born within the weight range of 1kg to 1.5kg do have this disorder. On the other hand, kids born from the 35th to 37th week have a way lesser risk of having cerebral palsy.
- Term babies: Infants born within week 37 to week 42 do have a lesser risk of having this disorder, however, there are other conditions that predispose the babies to have cerebral palsy. Some of these conditions are
- Traumatic delivery: This is when the baby undergoes a lot of trauma during childbirth, maybe due to problems in delivery. Some instruments and techniques are often used in the forceful delivery of babies, that might affect their brain integrity.
- Infections: Infections like toxoplasmosis, rubella predisposes babies to have cerebral palsy, especially when they are passed from the mother to the child when the baby is still intrauterine.
- Asphyxia: Although the mechanism of this hasn’t been fully understood yet, it has been observed that it might play a role in the development of cerebral palsy.
- Environmental factors: This comes to play after the baby has been born, and this could be in the form of poisons or some traumatic injuries. For example, a baby falling on his head, from a great height will most likely have cerebral palsy. In addition, diseases such as meningitis in its severe form are capable of predisposing a child with this brain disorder.
- Other causes of cerebral palsy also include blood incompatibility. As an illustration, in ABO blood incompatibility the antibodies of the mother might attack the baby’s blood cells and tissues, eventually leaving the baby with brain damage. In addition to this, hypoxia can also lead to this brain disorder. A reduced or lack of supply of oxygen to the brain for a long time will lead to cerebral palsy.
- Genetics: It has been observed that about 2% of cerebral palsy are caused by the lack of the enzyme glutamate decarboxylase-1. This disease is an autosomal recessive disease.
Signs and Symptoms of Cerebral Palsy
The signs and symptoms of cerebral palsy are mostly permanent. The symptoms of this disorder centers around movement, and musculoskeletal dysfunction. However, apart from movement difficulties, cerebral palsy is also associated with symptoms like seizures, speech difficulty, abnormal muscle tonicity, body imbalance, abnormal gait, spasms and so on. In addition to this, it has been noticed that babies born with a brain disorder, most times do have abnormal body posture. This could range from loose to rigid postures. It has also been observed that babies with this disorder, do have problems with micturition, and this can worsen with time.
- Speech problems: The Broca’s area of the brain is the speech center, and when there is a trauma to this brain zone, babies would have problems with their speech. The speech disorder in babies suffering from cerebral palsy has been linked with a poor control of the respiratory system accessories such as the larynx and pharyngeal dysfunction. In addition to this, the babies might also be late in language learning. Overall, this disorder gravely affects their communication and social interaction.
- Discomfort: Babies that have cerebral palsy do suffer a lot of discomforts. This can be as a result of bad postures, and overly rigid joints. They are also reported to have problems with their muscle tone. It has been observed that three-quarter of children suffering from cerebral palsy does experience pain. In addition to this, cerebral palsy patients do have difficulty eating food. This can be attributed to the motor and sensory impairment associated with this brain disorder. Also, reflux disease is common in a baby with cerebral palsy.
How Is Cerebral Palsy Presently Managed?
As said earlier, cerebral palsy has no cure, but the symptoms can be managed. The goal of the management is to make life comfortable for the baby. Firstly, the therapy is aimed at helping the child improve his movement. According to statistics, more than half of the babies treated, get to walk by themselves with or without any form of aid. The management of brain palsy takes time and patience, and most times it involves a lot of health professionals, such as physiotherapists, psychologists, nurses, and so on. Medications such as muscle relaxants, pain relievers and other forms of therapy are needed for the baby to live a normal life.
How Is Cerebral Palsy Diagnosed?
- The doctor would examine the movement of the patient, as this is usually the first symptom of the disease.
- Laboratory tests such as CT or MRI are also used.
Stem Cell Therapy
Stem cells are cells that can differentiate into other kinds of specialized cells. They also can regenerate and repair damaged tissues. This unique property of stem cells has been useful and efficient in the treatment of cerebral palsy. Stem cells have the ability to replace damaged cells and repair the injured ones. In addition, the stem cells also enhance the formation of new vessels and improve the flow of blood to the affected parts.
References
Dan, B. (2016). Stem cell therapy for cerebral palsy. Developmental Medicine & Child Neurology, 58(5), pp.424-424.
Ilyas, M., Dev, G. and Sharma, S. (2016). Joubert syndrome misdiagnosed as hypotonic cerebral palsy: Confirmation by magnetic resonance imaging. Indian Journal of Cerebral Palsy, 2(1), p.51.
Peacock, W. (2015). My journey into the world of treating children with cerebral palsy. Indian Journal of Cerebral Palsy, 1(2), p.65.
Purohit, A. (2015). Cerebral Palsy field indeed needs scientific deeds. Indian Journal of Cerebral Palsy, 1(1), p.1.
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