Muscular dystrophy treatment in India
5 min readNeuroGen’s unwavering distinctiveness lies in its ability to combine seamlessly, the newest developments (stem cells) with conventional, tried and tested rehabilitation techniques. The amalgamation of the new and the old in the form of synergistic teamwork, all under one roof, enables our patients to hope, in an otherwise despondent condition, for the possibility of a better quality of life.
Some time ago donated organs were transplanted to replace the diseased or failed organs in the recipients. Soon the number of recipients exceeded the number of donated. To overcome this demand, cell therapy offered the possibility of replacement of the damaged cells of tissue with new cells. Stem cell infusion helps to treat a plethora of conditions including cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury, intellectual disability, and other neurodegenerative syndromes as well.
Stem cells have the potential to develop into different cells of the tissues (of the body) and the ability of self-renewal. When serving as a repair system, the stem cells divide without limit as long as the person is alive. As they divide, they remain as stem cells or develop into cells with more specialized functions, like a brain cell or a muscle cell.
Stem cells, from different sources, have three common properties: They can divide and replicate themselves as long as the person is alive.
Impairments linked to neuromuscular conditions are usually irreversible due to inadequate cell regeneration or impaired cells in the central nervous system. It was observed that the cellular characteristics of autologous stem cells had the capability of treating major neurological disorders without incurring any side effects. With their neurotrophic properties, self-renewal & differentiation capacity, and immune modulation effects, the bone marrow-derived stem cells are considered as a promising candidate for treating disorders related to the nervous system.
For cell treatment, bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells are isolated from the marrow tissue (extracted from the patient’s hip bone) in an expedited, painless and safe way. By centrifugation procedure, a sufficient number of stem cells are separated from the unwanted tissue within a few hours. These injectable stem cells are infused intrathecally into the spinal area or the damaged muscle points, as per the need of the patients.
These bone marrow-derived stem cells have many useful properties that lead to great clinical improvement in post-cell-based therapy. According to various clinical trials, treatment with bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells have shown improvement in patients with traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury and other neurological disorders through axonal sprouting and remyelination, potential to replace/protect the damaged neurons/cells, and neovascularization.
How do the infused stem cells act? Once infused into the body,
– The infused stem cells journey toward the nervous system and blend into the neural circuits to mend or improve the disrupted synaptic transmission.
– Post infusion, improved neuropathological condition, upregulated Aß clearance and reduced deposition is detected within a short period.
– The infused stem cells reduce neuroinflammation and provide protective immunomodulatory effect.
– The stem cells secrete neurotrophic influence and nerve growth factors, bringing cognitive and memory improvement in patients.
Apart from encouraging effects, renewed brain plasticity is also observed in patients following intrathecal delivery of stem cells. With the new medical breakthrough in stem cell therapy, the treatment has become a highly sought-after curative. To know about the treatment efficacy, one must understand the efficiency of stem cells in terms of engraftment, migration, cytokines and growth factors. However, cell-based therapy is a promising contribution to regenerative medicine and has gained considerable clinical attention. See more details on NeuroGen Hospital.
Considerations Before Starting Treatment: The needs of a child with cerebral palsy aren’t solely based on correcting their physical disabilities. There are also social and emotional aspects of living a more fulfilling life. These aspects shouldn’t be ignored when considering treatment and therapy. Many children are content with their disabilities. As a parent, it’s important to consider their feelings. Some treatments can be stressful and uncomfortable, and may not be in the best interest of the child. It’s important to discuss the physical and emotional impacts of all treatments with specialists and most importantly, the child.
A few tips to help your child with autism: Make time for fun. A child coping with ASD is still a child. For both children with ASD and their parents, there needs to be more to life than therapy. Schedule playtime when your child is most alert and awake. Figure out ways to have fun together by thinking about the things that make your child smile, laugh, and come out of her/his shell. Your child is likely to enjoy these activities most if they don’t seem therapeutic or educational. There are tremendous benefits that result from your enjoyment of your child’s company and from your child’s enjoyment of spending unpressured time with you. Play is an essential part of learning for all children and shouldn’t feel like work.
How can I prevent spinal cord injuries? Because spinal cord injuries are often due to unpredictable events, the best you can do is reduce your risk. Some risk-reducing measures include: always wearing a seatbelt while in a car, wearing proper protective gear while playing sports, never diving into water unless you’ve examined it first to make sure it’s deep enough and free of rocks.
Did you know that stem cells, unlike other cells in the body, continue to divide for long periods of time and can help strengthen the immune system, effectively fighting infections and pathogens from the external environment. In addition, stem cells in the placenta and umbilical cord are important sources of platelets and red cells, which carry oxygen and nutrients to the blood. Stem cell harvesting can be done regardless of the time of birth: vaginal birth, caesarean section, multiple birth, premature birth or water birth.
Prolonged inactivity of limbs, may result in severe spasticity leading to permanent deformities. These may eventually need surgical correction. These symptoms may arise especially at the joints resulting in bent wrist, closed fist, flexed elbow. These may or may not straighten when forcefully tried. Poor feeding could result in malnourishment, which leads to a poor immunity, and low body weight. Poor neck control leads to swallowing difficulties in children with cerebral palsy. Often, the food taken orally may enter the larynx and trachea(windpipe), instead of the pharynx and oesophagus(food pipe). This could also be a common cause of recurrent pneumonia and other respiratory infections in cerebral palsy kids. Such cases of cerebral palsy could need eventual ventilatory support. See extra info Stem Cell Treatment For Cerebral Palsy.