China offers revolutionary cerebral palsy treatment

16-May-2007

Chinese doctors are offering a radical new approach to treating cerebral palsy.

The BBC reports that the country is home to a procedure in which stem cells are injected into a patient's spine.

The cells then flow into the brain and begin to develop into new cells and repair some of the damage done by birth-time oxygen deprivation, which causes cerebral palsy.

Kishor and Pita Tahiliani, from Bournemouth, are seeking to raise £18,000 for two months of such therapy at the Tiantan Puhua Neurosurgical Hospital in Beijing.

Mr Tahiliani told the BBC that "this is the best treatment" for his daughter.

He said: "There are cerebral palsy children who were totally blind and now they can see.

"My wife spoke to an American woman. They were crying on the phone, her child is able to do what a normal child does. He used to get fits before, all the epilepsy fits have gone, he was unable to walk and he is walking now."

"There are so many children who have improved. It's amazing really."

Travelling overseas for medical treatment has been dubbed "health tourism" and is a growing global phenomenon.

Mustafa Buyuk, the Turkish culture and tourism ministry undersecretary, told Nirvana International last week that 500,000 health tourists visit his country each year.