Originally published September 26 2005
Infrared light may be the answer to increased rate of children born with cerebral palsy
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The rate of premature births, and subsequently the rate of children born with cerebral palsy, has increased over the last 15 years, but WCVB-TV in Boston reports that a new method of infrared monitoring could detect abnormal blood flow to the brain when it is still treatable.
Fertility treatments have greatly increased the chances that families will have multiples, triplets, and even quadruplets.
The number of babies being delivered prematurely has also increased.
About 15 years ago, premature babies had just a 20 percent chance of surviving.
"About 10 to 15 percent of the preterm babies that we see will go on to develop some form of cerebral palsy," said Dr. Adre du Plessis, of Children's Hospital Boston.
"Well, I have a pelvic obliquity, so my muscles are kind of like elastics," William said.
For William, boxing is both physical therapy and an outlet for pain.
"This is the stage of his life where the differences are beginning to become more obvious," William's mother, Lori Watson, said.
Doctors say the cerebral palsy rate will continue to rise until they can predict which premature babies will suffer the brain injury, which right now they can't do.
"The babies could be having the injury right in front of your eyes, and you wouldn't know it.
And there is currently no technique for being able to pick that up," du Plessis said.
But researchers think they are on the verge of a breakthrough.
"It involves shining near infrared light across the skull and into the brain," du Plessis said.
A type of monitoring detects abnormal blood flow in babies' brains.
Du Plessis said that treatment with medicine could lead to prevention.
"That is our goal -- to be able to identify at-risk babies and then to monitor them continuously during the period of risk and to identify them before the irreversible injury occurs," du Plessis said.
But he and his doctors hope that with strong will and intense therapy, he'll walk.
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