Stem cells will help the brain to recover from a stroke
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Recently, a group of neurosurgeons conducted a study in which scientists tried to repair damaged brain cells after a stroke. As a medicine, stem cells from bone marrow of donors were used. The results of the experiments were announced at a conference on neurosurgery in the United States.
Experts decided to use stem cells to treat people after the previous experiments on animals showed a good effectiveness of this method of treatment.
For a new research project, scientists selected eighteen volunteers from 33 to 75 years old who had an ischemic stroke in the past. For the treatment of volunteers, scientists extracted stem cells from relatives of bone marrow and led them to the brain of participants in the experimental group.
Despite the fact that practically all participants in the research project had inherent consequences of brain damage (paralysis, bad speech, etc.), after the new method of treatment, the condition of patients improved significantly. A total of three participants of stem therapy caused complications. One of them had a bleeding, another - convulsions, the third - pneumonia, but over time their condition returned to normal.
Two women immediately after the start of treatment, the state of health significantly improved, the next day after the first procedure they were able to walk independently, and also began to talk. In this case, the women suffered a stroke two years ago.
In the course of the study, specialists observed the cells damaged after the stroke. Most of the volunteers showed good results. After six months from the beginning of the treatment, the paralysis and weakness of the participants in the experiment began to disappear. In two women, the consequences after the stroke completely passed (one of them was at the age of 33 years, and the second - 71 years), before the treatment both women were completely paralyzed. However, the author of this research project, Steinberg, believes that this kind of recovery is not standard, and since there was no control group at the time of the study, it's hard to say what exactly the healing effect was - direct stem-cell therapy or other factors during the procedure.
As noted by American specialists, treatment with stem cells can be a real breakthrough in post-stroke therapy and will give hope for a normal and healthy life to people who have suffered a stroke.
Stroke affects a person in the case when the cerebral blood circulation is broken as a result of a hemorrhage or a blood clot. Brain cells, losing oxygen, begin to die quickly. After intensive physical therapy, people are able to restore some abilities that were lost as a result of a stroke, but, according to experts, at this stage there is no method of repairing damaged brain cells.
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