World’s First Stem Cell Brain Treatment for Stroke Victim

Posted by Greg Scott _Featured_, Healing Saturday, November 20th, 2010

A British man has received an injection of stem cells in his brain to restore any harm inflicted by a stroke.  If the treatment is successful it could be in use worldwide as soon as 3 years from now.

The stem cells originated from an aborted fetus but the cells are capable of treating hundreds, thousands, or millions of patients.  Pro-life supporters say it is wrong to use an unborn baby as a resource to harvest human tissue.  250,000 British live with stroke inflicted disabilities but have no options of healing the brain after the damage has been done.

The medical experts at Southern General Hospital in Glasgow and researchers at the ReNeuron biotech company in Surrey think that the solution is to use stem cells.  The stem cells act as moldable clay and can be utilized to repair and rebuild the body and replenish damaged tissue.

In tests on laboratory rats the stem cells allowed the rats to regain movement after being paralyzed by the stroke. 

Biotech firm ReNeuron believes it is unethical not to treat suffering patients and said that in the future it may be possible to obtain the stem cells used for this treatment from the patient’s own skin which will alleviate any ethical concerns.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

Photo:  jgmarcileno’s flickr photostream