Cerebral palsy study gives hope

A new study is raising hope for the eventual prevention of cerebral palsy in very premature babies.

University of Auckland researchers have found severe brain injury that develops after pretermbirths, that can cause conditions like cerebral palsy, may be treatable.

‘‘Just the concept that it may be treatable is revolutionary,’’ senior research fellow Dr Christopher Lear, who is the lead author on the study, said. ‘‘The current thinking is that this formof brain injury is so severe that there is no point trying to understand it, let alone treat it.’’

The research team found there was intense local inflammation before the injury developed, and giving the drug Etanercept three days after a period of oxygen deprivation almost completely prevented severe injury from developing after three weeks’ recovery.

‘‘Virtually all proposed treatments so far need to be started within the first six hours of life. This is often not realistic when families are overwhelmed by events around birth,’’ Professor Laura Bennet, who was also involved in the research, said.

‘‘A therapeutic window of at least three days is exceptionally long. Much more research is needed before this approach can be tested in humans, but this remarkably wide window for treatment gives us real hope that these findings will one day lead to a new treatment in humans to prevent cerebral palsy.’’

A Cerebral Palsy Society spokesperson said the society was excited to hear about the research in this complicated area.

‘‘It is indeed positive that New Zealand experts are continuing to explore multiple avenues for treatment and prevention of cerebral palsy, as we work actively to support all people living with cerebral palsy in New Zealand,’’ the spokesperson said. ‘‘This is a very positive development from the New Zealand scientific community, that looks tominimise the impact of severe brain injury, for either prevention of cerebral palsy or minimising subsequent disability severity.’’

October is the Cerebral Palsy Society’s awareness month.