Source: Cord Blood Proven Effective for Cerebral Palsy, Parent’s Guide to Cord Blood, Apr 2025. Summary written by Future Health GCC.
What happened
Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most common motor disability of childhood. For years, small clinical studies around the world have tested whether infusions of umbilical cord blood can help children with CP. In 2025 the medical journal Pediatrics published an analysis that combined the individual results of children from 11 of those studies, more than 400 children in all, to get a clearer answer than any single study could give.
What they found
Children who received cord blood together with rehabilitation improved their gross motor skills — movements such as sitting, standing and walking — more than children who had rehabilitation alone. The main comparison was between 170 children who received cord blood and 171 who did not.
On GMFM-66, a standard scale for measuring motor skills, the children treated with cord blood were on average 1.36 points ahead of the comparison group after 6 months and 1.42 points ahead after 12 months. Two physical therapy experts, writing in the same journal, described this as a large effect for this field.
The benefit was greatest in children under five, in children who could already walk with or without help, and in children who received higher doses of cells.
How far along it is
Cord blood therapy for CP is not yet approved as a standard treatment in any country, and larger phase III trials are still needed. Some countries, including Australia, allow children who meet certain criteria to access it through compassionate-use programmes. In 84% of the treatments studied, the cord blood came from a donor rather than from the child’s own stored cord blood.
What it means for families
This is some of the strongest evidence so far that cord blood cells may help children with cerebral palsy, especially when they are treated young. It does not guarantee a result for any individual child, and any decision about treatment should be made with the child’s doctors.
Read the original article on Parent’s Guide to Cord Blood →
This is a summary of published research, written by Future Health GCC. It is not medical advice. Speak to your doctor about any treatment.
Photo: AnikaMeyer, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).