What Patients Should Know About Stem Cell Treatment
Stem cells have two unique features that make them suitable for treatment and therapy for a variety of sicknesses and conditions. Firstly, the stem cells can regenerate and create more cells of their kind. The other feature they possess is the ability to mature to specialized cells suitable to carry out a specific function, like in the skin, muscle or bone.
It has been found that besides treating heart diseases, neurodegenerative ailments and diabetes, stem cell therapy can also cure other conditions and illnesses. Clinical trials are being carried out to come up with a stem cell treatment for blindness, spinal cord injury, and stroke. This might lead to a medical revolution in the future.
For almost sixty years, the most popular type of stem cell therapy has been bone-marrow transplant. This procedure, however, can be very tedious, painful and prolonged. As an alternative blood stem cells are extracted from the cord as they are safe and cheaper to use for treatment. Blood cells have been successful in treating blood-related illnesses and immune system, as it is evident with the many cases where children have been cured of leukemia.
The ability to create new tissues has led to treatments of diseases and injuries to the bone, skin, and surface of the eye by implanting new tissues. Unlike drugs that dissolve in the body, stem cells do not. Stem cells may react with the body of the patient for the time they are inside the body since they are living cells. That is the reason the treatments have to be customized to a particular patient.
It is important to note that different stem cells originate from various regions in the human body and they are meant to perform different treatments and therapies. As a patient who is about to get stem cell treatment, it is advisable to be curious and never shy away from being guaranteed of scientific evidence that proves how safe and effective the treatment is. In cases where stem cell treatment is the only option for the patient, they should seek to know if the cells to be used for the treatment are pure or mixed. The stem cells to be implanted in the body of a human are obtained from the bone marrow or fat, umbilical cord blood, fetal tissue or embryos.
All the risks and complications should be communicated to the patient who is about to receive stem cell treatment by a licensed medical practitioner. Stem cell treatment is still in the trial stage, and there are no tangible results and enough data to show the efficiency of the treatment.