Cerebral Palsy Patient Still Improving in Germany
Three year-old Sophia Chang from Woodland Hills, California, is continuing to improve following her second stem cell treatment since March 2008 for cerebral palsy at the XCell-Center in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Sophia suffers from ataxic cerebral palsy, a condition that was brought due to a low fetal heart rate. The cause of her low heart rate remains a mystery. Her greatest difficulties are motor planning and execution – getting her body to do what she wants it to do.
“…We found out about XCell-Center and were excited to learn that we would be able to safely remove stem cells from her own bone marrow and re-inject them into her spinal fluid… We booked the (first) procedure for March 2008 when she was 23 months,” said Ellen Chang, Sophia’s mother.
Sophia received her first treatment via lumbar puncture, a procedure by which stem cells are injected into the spinal fluid under general anesthesia (for small children). The stem cell implantation procedure takes about 30 minutes. Total cost for bone marrow collection, laboratory processing and implantation is 9,000 Euros.
“… Things we noticed within a few weeks was that she developed a protective reaction when falling (we never needed to put the helmet back on once we got back home), she was able to chew foods and had more of an interest in foods (fries, peas, pretzels) within a week of the procedure. She seemed to just be more aware of everything and she played with toys more purposefully,” Mrs. Chang commented.
Since her second treatment in November 2009, Sophia has continued to improve. “…already we have noticed that her drooling has almost stopped completely and that she has acquired many new sounds and words following our second trip. In addition her words sound much clearer. She is much more motivated to use her words and will repeat many words that she hears-I think she even surprises herself when she realizes she can produce a sound she wasn’t able to just a few weeks ago,” added Mrs. Chang.
The XCell-Center center has treated almost 200 cerebral palsy patients by lumbar puncture since opening its doors in 2007. Patient follow-up statistics show that, overall, 2 out of 3 patients reported improvements following treatment.
In 2009, the XCell-Center treated its first patients via neuro-endoscopic autologous stem cell implantation (NEASCI™). This innovative technique allows neurosurgeons to implant stem cells directly into the fluid spaces that surround a patient’s brain thus achieving more accurate targeting of stem cells than with other implantation methods such as intrathecal or intravenous injection. All XCell-Center patients are treated with their own bone marrow-derived stem cells.
“So far, we have seen very promising results from patients we have treated via NEASCI. We expect this trend to continue and aim to release follow-up statistics in late 2010 or early 2011,” said Dr. Ute Tamaschke, the pediatric neurosurgeon who performs NEASCI procedures at the XCell-Center in Dusseldorf, Germany.
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This is very encouraging to read.
Our daughter, Lauren, is due to be treated by the Xcell center in the next few weeks with the NEASCI technique. She was a healthy 2 year old that developed a heart complaint and then had a hypoxic brain injury. Different circumstances to Sophia, but just as disabling. I hope we get to see similar results with Lauren.
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can you please tell me any updates on Lauren. We are waiting for a reply from x cell to take our daughter. I would really appreciate it if you would contact me
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