In a couple of months, the first test to verify if embryonic stem cells directly injected inside patients’ brain plagued by stroke can regenerate damaged areas, will start in Scotland.
A team from Southern General Hospital of Glasgow selected 4 groups of 3 patients that will be treated during the next 2 years.
Firstly patients will take a dose of 2 millions embryonic stem cells. The amount will be gradually increased to 20 millions of stem cells, which is what doctors think patients need to start the re-creating processes.
In the debate on embryonic stem cell research, or its regulations, it seems that the wind is changing both in the US, where President Obama has just changed the rigid guidelines laid out by his predecessor George W. Bush, and in Austria. “There was no pre-arranged organization, however, we were not against it,” said Christiane Druml, the president of the Bioethical Commission, presenting their new recommendations on March 23. A large majority, “including 17 out of 25 women”, believe that embryonic stem cell research is “scientifically relevant, morally legitimate, and worthy of support” and recommended
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An experimental treatment in Spain has shown promising possibilities to rebuild breasts damaged by tumors with the use of fat taken from the patient’s abdomen, removing stem cells, then injecting them into the chest, in a process that takes from four to five hours and does not leave scars.
Five patients from Madrid were the first in Spain to undergo the pioneering operation performed at Gregorio Maranon in collaboration with three other European hospitals in Great Britain, Italy, and Belgium. Mesenchymal stem cells, adult stem cells with the ability to transform into different tissues, are the
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It works in racehorses. Who knows if it’s possible in humans. A technique using stem cells to repair damage to the Achilles tendon is about to be tested in Great Britain.
British biotech company MedCell Bioscience has announced that it will begin human testing in the next six months and expects to perform a broad study in various European hospitals in 2011.
Patients will receive injections containing millions of their own stem cells extracted and multiplied in the lab to regenerate damaged tissue. Over 1,500 racehorses have been treated with the same procedure and the results
Human adult stem cells are being used to cure cirrhosis and other serious live diseases. Another 15 people in Brazil on the liver transplant waiting list have been treated by cellular therapy with encouraging results. “We are still in a strictly experimental phase” underlined Luiz Guilherme Costa Lyra, hepatologist and coordinator of the study performed by Sao Rafael di Salvador Hospital, collaborating with San Raffaele Hospital of Milan. “We must clarify that this therapy is not available for any patient outside of the experiment, so it is useless for anyone to write us asking to get