Cerebral palsy patient walks after stem-cell treatment

HA NOI - The Vinmec International Hospital today said doctors at the hospital had successfully treated a cerebral palsy patient with stem-cell transplant in Vietnam. Nguyen Le Nhat Lam, an eight-year-old girl in Duong Minh Chau District in the southern Tay Ninh Province, was diagnosed with cerebral palsy in 2013. Within a year, Lam could not move her hands and feet and was reduced to skin and bone.

Lam was sent to Vinmec Hospital for stem-cell treatment in July 2014. After receiving four stem-cell transplants in the next one year, Lam has recovered miraculously. She can now sit up and even feed herself.

"My girl can now walk about 10 steps and has start trying to speak," Lam's father Nguyen Cong Thu said.

The result is part of the state scientific research on using stem cells to treat children, conducted by Vinmec Hospital Director Nguyen Thanh Liem.

Lam is one of thousands of children who are born with cerebral palsy in Vietnam.

Surveys show that cerebral palsy affects 0.06 to 0.19 per cent of the country's children. About 20 to 70 per cent of the children with cerebral palsy visit hospitals and rehabilitation centres for examination and treatment.

Cerebral palsy is a group of permanent movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Often, the symptoms include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles and tremors. Babies with cerebral palsy do not roll over, sit, crawl or walk as early as other children of their age.