Stem Cell Therapy

Stem cell therapy relies on the use of cells that have not received a function in the body yet and which have a large if not unlimited potential of regeneration and evolution into cells with specialized tasks. This process of conversion from unspecialized to specialized is known as differentiation or specialization. Regenerative medicine is the one that benefits most from the advantages of stem cell therapy since tissue regrowth is considered almost impossible for certain medical conditions. Just think of people who suffer from spinal cord injury!

In 2004, a great success case marked the evolution of stem cell therapy when a team of Korean researchers used stem cells taken from umbilical cord blood and treated a patient who was immobilized because of a spinal cord injury. Presently, the woman has recovered almost completely, being able to walk, after a nineteen-year period during which she was not able to move. This stem cell therapy simply consisted in the injecting of stem cells into the injured spinal cord portion. Heart diseases are also supposed to be treated by the revolutionary stem cells, but cures are still experimental for these ailments. People from all over the world can turn to experimental medicine to solve their heart problems, on the condition that they be able to bear the costs of the intervention.

The blood cells formation represents another territory with great advancements for stem cell therapy. Many types of cancer destroy the quality of the vital fluid and cause a collapse in the entire system. Moreover, the administration of very powerful medication for the reduction of tumors further damages the quality of the blood by killing the rapidly regenerating cells. The use of stem cell therapy for the health benefit of the blood condition is one of the first merits of stem cell research and medicine. The most common procedure involved is the bone marrow transplantation from a donor to a patient.

Although the applications of stem cell therapy extend to pretty much any injury, damage or disease that affects the human body, we’ll only mention one other treatment possibility considered pretty revolutionary. Stem cells seem to work great in the treatment of baldness or hair loss by the specialization into hair follicle cells. This stem cell therapy consist in the collection of stem cells from healthy hair follicles, their growth in cultures, followed by the implantation once there are enough new follicles. Similar applications are available with various other treatments depending on the injury.

Filed Under: Stem Cells