Philadelphia Birth Injury Lawyer Blog

The American Academy of Neurology and the Child Neurology Society have released reports on the beneficial uses of Botox injections and the drug diazepam to help reduce the effects of muscle spasticity in children suffering from the cerebral palsy.

The study states that botulinum toxin injections, Botox, are an effective way to reduce spasticity and muscle tightness that reduces movement in children and young adults. According to the study Botox imposes only a slight risk of generalized weakness after an injection. The Drugs, diazepam and tizanidine were also named in the study but for short term use and with a higher risk of side effects.

Several other treatments and medications were examined in the study but they could not gather enough research to make recommendations. Researchers attest there is an urgent need for more research to establish definitive recommendations for current and future medications and treatment for those suffering from birth injuries such as cerebral palsy.

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New Guidelines Suggest Botox for Cerebral Palsy

There may be hope for Philadelphia parents and their children born with cerebral palsy. A study is currently being conducted to test the effect cord blood has on cerebral palsy.

Doctors have injected 150 children suffering from cerebral palsy with their own umbilical cord blood cells in hope that the cells can repair some of the damage done by the birth defect. Doctors have already had success with cord blood when used to treat other neurological diseases but its use with cerebral palsy patients is still in its infancy.

One year after the infusion the children will be studied to see if there are any improvements in their neurological state or muscle movement. Doctors are optimistic that the treatment should benefit the children because of their work with cord blood in animals and with other diseases.

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Doctors Use Baby's Cord Blood to Treat Diseases

Prenatal health and care is important to every Philadelphia Pregnant woman and an important link between brain development and folic acid may have been forgotten about. Folic acid also known as vitamin B helps the fetal neural tube properly develop into the child's central nervous system.

According the March of Dimes, 70% of neural tube defects are preventable if folic acid is digested within the first few weeks of pregnancy when the neural tube is developing. Birth defects associated with a neural tube defect include spina bifida and anencephaly. Spina bifida occurs when some vertebrate are not fully formed, leaving the spinal cord open and unfused. If the hole is large enough the spinal cord may stick out from the bones. The deadly anencephaly occurs when the neural tube does not full develop into the cerebrum. The child will be born without an underdeveloped brain and major portions of the head and scalp may be missing.

Folic acid was once well known to be an important vitamin in prenatal care but fewer women know that now when compared with years ago. Some states, like Utah have begun to educate women on the importance of folic acid and distribute the vitamin to pregnant women in an attempt to decrease the amount of babies born with a neural tube defect.

Related Web Source:
Neural Tube Birth Defects on the Rise