The term cerebral palsy is not a specific diagnosis, but is now generally applied to children who experience some form of brain trauma either at the time of birth or shortly before. Most commonly these children manifest some degree of cognitive dysfunction along with physical impairment, often weakness and spasticity of arms and legs.Treatment approaches for children with cerebral palsy (C.P.) are generally directed at the manifestations of the underlying brain disorder. That is, most efforts are geared to increasing range of motion, reducing spasticity, and increasing strength, along with specific therapies designed to enhance skills of communication and academic performance.
As in stroke and head injury, the damaged areas of the brain in cerebral palsy do not exist in sharp contrast to regions of completely normal function. Rather, between these two extremes there exists a population of neurons that while alive, are not functioning at optimum capacity. It is these idling neurons that respond to hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT).
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is an exciting medical treatment approved by the FDA and AMA which enhances tissue levels of life giving oxygen. Normally, oxygen is almost exclusively carried by red blood cells. During HBO therapy, there is a substantial increase in the amount of oxygen carried in all body fluids including plasma, cerebrospinal fluid, lymph, and intracellular fluids. This allows increased oxygen levels even in areas with poor or compromised blood supply as well as in areas of tissuedamage. Increasing tissue oxygen levels produces several important long term therapeutic benefits including enhanced growth of new blood vessels, increased ability of white blood cells to destroy bacteria and remove toxins, increase growth of fibroblasts (cells involved in wound healing), and enhanced metabolic activity of previously marginally functioning cells including brain neurons. Patients receiving hyperbaric oxygen therapy are treated in a chamber where they breathe 100% oxygen delivered to the chamber under increased pressure. During the treatments, which typically last 1 to 2 hours, patients relax, watch television, or sleep while they are carefully monitored by highly trained technicians with whom they can communicate easily through an intercom system.
Evidence accumulating from around the globe is now providing strong support for the use of HBOT as an approach to the actual functional problem in children with cerebral palsy
a technique that targets marginally functioning brain tissue. Encouraging research is taking place in Canada where Dr. Pierre Marois and his team of researchers at McGill University in Montreal have recently studied 25 children with cerebral palsy, aged 4 to 7 years, treated with hyperbaric oxygen therapy on a daily basis for 20 days. Another 15 children were treated twice a day for 10 days. Both groups thus received a total of 20 treatment sessions. The results of their post-treatment evaluations were truly remarkable. According to Dr. Marois: the results are really incredible! Twenty-three of the 25 children have great results. Twenty-three have amelioration with their spasticity and may have amelioration with speech and cognitive function. Further, their published results reveal the clinical observations do list numerous functional changes, definite improvements, a large amount in the level of arousal/response to communication. From statistical analysis of the objective estimations we confirm these change, more particularly on the level of motor functioning like walking and the quality of sitting position, similarly on the level of spasticity. These results are surprising considering the small number of treatments (20), and of extreme importance because its the first study documenting objectively the prospects of beneficial effects of HBO in the treatment of children suffering from cerebral palsy. Marois, P., The Pilot Project on Treatment in Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
While it is important to recognize that hyperbaric oxygen therapy clearly represents an important tool in the treatment of children with cerebral palsy, it should be viewed as an adjunctive form of therapy to be used in conjunction with other established treatment protocols including physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, as well as pharmaceutical therapy designed to reduce spasticity. The use of HBO in children with cerebral palsy is now gaining a strong foothold in the United States and there is no doubt that because of its profound effects, its utilization will become much more widespread.
Public awareness of the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in children with cerebral palsy in North America can be credited in large part to the work done by Mothers United for Moral Support (MUMS). This worldwide organization, founded by Julie Gordon, a mother of a child with cerebral palsy, seeks to unite parents of children with cerebral palsy and other needs and to share information concerning various therapeutic options. They can by contacted by telephone at 920-336-5333, or visit their web site:
