Inject stem cells into the brains of patients affected by stroke would allow you to regain motor skills, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal Stroke.
American researchers carried out a clinical trial with 18 subjects, aged 61 on average and having been victims of a Stroke, paralyzed in the arms or legs.
“Several of them could no longer walk, while others could no longer move their arms”, specifies Professor Gary Steinberg, professor of neurosurgery and head of the work, quoted by Pourquoi Doctor.
The researchers injected the patients with stem cells taken from the bone marrow of two donors.
After a year, the results of their experiment were remarkable.
“Patients who were in a wheelchair can now walk. It’s unprecedented. Six months after a Stroke, you do not expect such a recovery ”, enthuses Professor Gary Steinberg, specifying nonetheless that this clinical trial is unique and small.
Hope for paralyzed patients to regain mobility
First cause of physical disability and second cause of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease, stroke affects an average of 130,000 people per year in France, causing 33,000 deaths. More than 77,000 victims suffer after-effects until the end of their life (aphasia, memory problems, etc.).
Even though this study was carried out on a very small number of patients, it brings new hope to patients and challenges the idea that the brain cannot be repaired. “The notion that the injured brain never heals itself is no longer valid,” concluded neurosurgeon Gary Steinberg.
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