As
frequent readers at AdvanceUSA can attest it’s hard to keep up all the exciting
developments in ethical adult stem cell research. Here’s a couple
more:
1.
Several sports teams in Australia
are considering storing
their players’ adult stem cells as an insurance policy against lengthy or
debilitating
injuries. Below is an excerpt from the AFP news
story:
Stem cells would be taken from bone marrow in the player's
spine in a half-hour procedure under a local anaesthetic and then grown in a
laboratory for six weeks.
Then they would be stored in a cell bank, ready to be
transplanted should injury occur.
Stem cells are cells that can develop into various types
of body tissues and are a major focus of current medical research, potentially
revolutionising transplants and other areas of surgery.
The hope is that cells taken from the patient's own body
would not face rejection by the immune system, which can happen with
transplants from other people.
2. David
Traub’s cardiologist was extremely skeptical of David traveling to Bangkok to receive heart
injections of his own adult stem cells, and the specialist even warned him that
he might not survive. But this “doubting Thomas” is now a true believer
in the
benefits of adult stem cell treatment. The following is an excerpt
from the Trans World News article:
David's therapy consisted of having about half a pint of
his own blood removed in Bangkok's prestigious Bangkok Heart Hospital.
This blood was flown to Theravitae's laboratory where the therapeutic stem
cells were isolated and multiplied many times before being injected directly into
the heart muscle via a small incision in the chest wall.
Not only did David survive the trip half way around the
world but he returned home to find, "The peaks were higher and the
valley's not as deep."
He still has problems due to an enlarged heart from
cardiomyopathy but he is happy to wait a while longer knowing that his heart
now has a richer blood supply compared with before stem cell treatment, so it
is working normally rather than struggling.
For more
information on adult stem cell successes check the AdvanceUSA adult stem cell page.