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A New Study in Georgia Is Looking into whether Stem Cells from Cord Blood Can Help Children with Cerebral Palsy
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(84 seconds)
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(OPEN):
AN ESTIMATED TWO-MILLION AMERICANS HAVE CEREBRAL-PALSY--WHICH
IS CAUSED BY A BRAIN-INJURY BEFORE BIRTH, OR DURING THE FIRST FEW YEARS
OF LIFE. THE CONDITION CAN IMPAIR MOVEMENT, HEARING, VISION, AND
COGNITIVE-SKILLS. THERE'S CURRENTLY NO CURE--AND NO
STANDARD-THERAPY THAT WORKS FOR ALL PATIENTS. BUT, NEW,
CUTTING-EDGE RESEARCH IS EXPLORING THE POTENTIAL OF STEM-CELL-BASED
THERAPIES, TO TREAT THESE KINDS OF NEUROLOGICAL-IMPAIRMENTS.
PEDIATRIC-NEUROLOGIST JAMES CARROLL IS THE LEAD-INVESTIGATOR
OF A NEW CLINICAL-TRIAL, AT GEORGIA HEALTH SCIENCES UNIVERSITY--FORMERLY
THE MEDICAL COLLEGE OF GEORGIA--TO DETERMINE WHETHER AN
INFUSION OF STEM-CELLS FROM A CHILD'S OWN UMBILICAL-CORD-BLOOD CAN
IMPROVE QUALITY-OF-LIFE FOR CHILDREN WITH CEREBRAL-PALSY...
(CARROLL):
"THE HOPE FOR
STEM-CELLS--REALLY, FROM THE BEGINNING--IS THAT THEY MIGHT SERVE AS SOME
TYPE OF REPLACEMENT FOR CELLS IN THE NERVOUS-SYSTEM THAT HAVE BEEN
DESTROYED, OR NEVER DEVELOPED PROPERLY."
(BRIDGE):
DOCTOR CARROLL ADDS THAT THE OUTCOMES OF BOTH PRECLINICAL-RESEARCH AND
ANECDOTAL-EVIDENCE IN PATIENTS HAVE MADE UMBILICAL-CORD-BLOOD AN
INTRIGUING SOURCE OF STEM-CELLS FOR RESEARCHERS TO PURSUE--AS HAS THE
SAFETY-PROFILE OF USING CHILDREN'S OWN CORD-BLOOD...
(CARROLL):
"WE FOUND, IN OUR ANIMAL-EXPERIMENTS, THAT ADULT-STEM-CELLS CAN
GREATLY ASSIST IN RECOVERY FROM BRAIN-INJURY. SO, WE WANTED TO TRY
TO APPLY THIS IN CHILDREN. AND, CORD-BLOOD--THAT IS, THE
CORD-BLOOD OF THE CHILD BEING TREATED--PROVIDES A SAFE PLACE, AND A SAFE
WAY, TO DO THAT."
(CLOSE):
FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT
"CORD-BLOOD"-DOT-COM.
