Stem Cells Show Promise for Stroke Recovery
Early study found they can be safely transplanted into the brain; 2 patients showed significant improvement
In an early test, researchers report they’ve safely injected stem cells into the brains of 18 patients who had suffered strokes. And two of the patients showed significant improvement.
All the patients saw some improvement in weakness or paralysis within six months of their procedures. Although three people developed complications related to the surgery, they all recovered. There were no adverse reactions to the transplanted stem cells themselves, the study authors said.
What’s more, the researchers said, two patients experienced dramatic recoveries almost immediately after the treatments.
Those patients, who were both women, started to regain the ability to talk and walk the morning after their operations. In both cases, they were more than two years past their strokes, a point where doctors wouldn’t have expected further recovery.
