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. The transformation of stem cells into body functional cells is known as specialization or differentiation, and it represents the main characteristic on which all stem cell therapy is based. 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 no difficulties walking, 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. Another major treatment in this medical domain is that of heart diseases. People worldwide can turn to experimental medicine to solve their heart problems, but surely, they should also afford the intervention.

The blood cells formation is another territory conquered by stem cell therapy. Because of the cancer treatments or the cancerous diseases that attack the blood, regeneration of the specific cells is very difficult if not impossible. Moreover, the chemotherapy drugs used in the treatment of tumors further destroy the rapidly regenerating blood cells. The use of stem cell therapy for the improvement of the blood condition is one of the first successes reputed by stem cell research and medicine. The most common intervention involved is the bone marrow transplant from a donor to a patient.

Even if 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 could be the solution for hair loss or baldness because they can take over the function of the cells in the hair follicles that for some reason have failed to regenerate from a certain moment onwards. This stem cell therapy requires the collection of stem cells from healthy follicles and their transplant into the skin to regenerate the hair. All sorts of injuries will therefore benefit from a similar treatment.

Filed Under: Stem Cells