Treatment Overview of Muscular Dystrophy And The Benefits of Stem Cell Therapy

Muscular Dystrophy or MD is the name given to a group of diseases that cause weakening in the musculoskeletal system of the body and also hamper locomotion activities, including moving and walking. The disease/diseases are characterized by death of muscular tissues and cells, a defect in the muscle protein, and weakness of the skeletal muscles which also enhance in a progressive manner.

Symptoms

Symptoms of Muscular Dystrophy include poor balance, progressive wastage of muscles, inability in walking, deformation inside the calf, muscle spasms, difficulty in respiration and Scoliosis (curvature of back or spine), among other symptoms and signs.

Causes

Muscular Dystrophy is usually inherited. Genetic mutation is also a cause of the disease. An error within the gene by the name "Dystrophin" causes the disease. The error disrupts the functioning of the gene, which is vital for the integrity of the muscles. Hence, cells which are required to maintain the muscles and their functionality cannot fulfill their functions and roles. This leads to disability and muscle weakness.

Types Of Muscular Dystrophy

There are 9 kinds of muscular dystrophy diseases affecting humans today. 1 male child in every 3500 suffers from muscular dystrophy. The types of the disease include Duchene, Becker, Congenital, Distal, Emery-Dreifuss, Limb-Girdle, Facioscapulohumeral, Myotonic, and Oculopharyngeal Muscular Dystrophy.

Muscular Dystrophy Treatment Options

Drugs and Medications:

Some steroids like Prednisolone can slow down the progression of the disease. They can delay the loss related to independent ambulation.

Rehabilitation:

Rehabilitation of muscular dystrophy patients includes speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy and recreational therapies among others. Rehabilitation management depends on the management of joint contractures and muscle extensibility.

Genetic Therapy:

The genetic therapy provides for the introduction of healthy genes within the patients suffering from MD. These genes can bring the protein production and gene expression to the normal patterns.

Muscular Dystrophy stem cell treatment

Muscular Dystrophy stem cell treatment is a new way of curing the otherwise un-curable disease. Stem cells are a kind of unspecialized cells that can be grown to provide for specialized functions. Stem cells can grow and become specialized cells, or cells that can undertake specific functions. Some of the specialized cells of the human body are the blood cells, muscular cells and neural cells among others. Stem cells can also repair and re-generate the damaged muscular cells, and hence can be used for treating all types of muscular dystrophy.

Stem cell therapy for Muscular Dystrophy offers benefits like:

1. Deliverance of muscle proteins
2. Secretion of the proteins called as cytokines that provide for growth of skeletal muscle cells
3. Cell fusion and differentiation
4. Vascularization of the damaged muscle areas, and greater oxygen supply to the affected parts
5. Replenishment of healthy stem cell pool

Hence, Muscular Dystrophy stem cell treatment offers benefits including remodeling of tissues, a decrease in inflammation, prevention of cell death and other benefits. All these factors combine to provide for healthy muscle cell growth. Patients who receive stem cell therapy for Muscular Dystrophy also get benefits like better limb strength, trunk muscle strength and have a better posture. There are other benefits such as an increase in stamina, hand function, ambulation improvement and greater trunk balance are also achieved. The dependent patient changes into an independent person who can carry out several activities of his life on his own and enjoy a better quality of life. Apart from the benefits, stem cell therapy also provides for inhibition of wasting of muscles and has lasting benefits for the sufferers.

Spinal cord injury and autism stem cell treatment are also getting quite common now. The stem cells have been found to be useful in a range of other neurodegenerative disorders.

The author is an expert in the field of stem cell research & therapy. The writer has a flair for writing and she keeps on writing various articles and blogs related to industry.