Stem Cell for Encephalitis Patients

Encephalitis is a rare condition that involves inflammation of the brain. It occurs more often in the first year of life and decreases with age though it can happen anytime during our life span. Extremes of age however is a statistically looked upon as a factor contributing to severity with the very young and very old suffering more.

Encephalitis is most often caused by a viral infection which one can actually acquire by breathing in respiratory droplets from an infected person, ingesting contaminated food or drink, mosquito, tick, and other insect bites, and in rare strains of the infection, skin contact.

Since the mode of transmission for this kind of infection can be airborne, cases are usually epidemic in nature, and unfortunately, for those with weaker immunity, the disease can spread fast and swift without many visible symptoms.

A few of the signs of encephalitis however are altered mental status, personality changes, autonomic dysfunctions, movement disorders, ataxia, cranial nerve defect, dysphagia (particularly in rabies cases), and unilateral sensory motor dysfunction. In severe cases, encephalitic can lead to brain damage in the form of loss of memory especially among those who had herpes simplex virus encephalitis; personality and behavioral changes; aphasia or language problems, and even worse, death.

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF STEM CELL IN PATIENTS WITH ENCEPHALITIS?

            Since despite the available treatment we have for encephalitis, complications still arise and one of the most pressing of which is brain damage which can lead to permanent disability. Basically, stem cell treatment is given post-encephalitis to somehow alleviate the damage that was caused by the infection to the brain. Since mesenchymal stem cells are both immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory effect, along with its innate property to form new neural cells, which can be used to repair damaged brain cells.

            Evidences with animal trials had shown positive results in terms of functional improvement though there are still questions as to how this happens and this is what researchers are trying to establish now.

            Bone marrow stem cell can also be an alternative solution for those patients who had suffered the neuropsychiatric and neurobehavioral effects of viral encephalitis. According to a study, patients who had received stem cell transplantation with bone marrow stem cell displayed remarkable improvements in language skills and in terms of behavioral pattern.

WHAT CAN YOSKARN CLINIC OFFER?

Yoskarn Clinic takes pride in offering the latest innovations in stem cell technology that is available in the market. Being closely linked with stem cell research facilities in Bangkok, our center works with doctors and researchers in developing ways to further improve the benefits that we can garner from it.

For post-encephalitis patients, we offer a special stem cell therapy using either mesenchymal stem cell or bone marrow stem cell, or a combination of both depending on the need of the patient. We also incorporate introduction of stem cell for the whole body to promote cell regeneration in a more holistic way.

Though we do not claim the stem cell can fully repair brain damage, the results we’ve seen with patients are very promising with varying degrees of improvement for each individual.