November 21st, 2004
Stem Cell Therapy For Stroke Damage?
Yahoo! News reports that Brazilian scientists will begin limited trials in the use of a stem cell therapy to treat stroke damage. "The patient ... lost movement in the right side of her body and could not understand other people or communicate with them. Bone-marrow cells from her body were slowly infused in the middle cerebral artery through a catheter on the fifth day after her stroke. After 17 days she was discharged, having recovered movements, comprehension and some speech, with further improvements reported in the following months." Researchers emphasise that this recovery could be natural, but are optimistic about the prospects of a wider clinical trial.