Once again, adult stem cells have proven successful in treating disease and injury, this time producing “stunning” results in the reversal of damage caused by strokes.

The Daily Mail is reporting on a study involving 18 patients who were suffering from various forms of debilitation from strokes who regained the ability to walk, speak and resume normal activities after being given a treatment consisting of adult stem cells. The patients, who were men and women ranging in age from 33 to 75, had suffered a stroke anywhere from six months to three years ago.

Even though stem cell treatments have been shown to work for stroke patients in other trials in the past, most were conducted within days of suffering a stroke. The new study, however, showed that the treatment can reverse stroke damage that occurred up to three years prior which significantly expands the number of people who could benefit.

“Patients improved by several standard measures, and their improvement was not only statistically significant, but clinically meaningful,” said the study’s leader, Professor Gary Steinberg. “Their ability to move around has recovered visibly. That’s unprecedented. At six months out from a stroke, you don’t expect to see any further recovery.”

The procedure, which is performed under local anesthesia, involves drilling a small hole through the skull and injecting stem cells called SB623 cells, which are derived from the bone marrow of donors, directly into the damaged area of the brain. These stem cells, known as “blank” cells which are capable of acting as a kind of “repair kit” for the body, are believed to encourage the regeneration of blood cells and blood vessels. Bone marrow donations from just two people were sufficient to provide enough stem cells for the 18 patients, all of whom were able to go home after the procedure while suffering nothing more serious than a headache.

Over the course of the next 12 months, they began to show significant signs of recovery ranging from improved motor function and speech to being able to walk again.

In one case, a patient who was unable to use her legs after a stroke and was confined to a wheelchair is now jogging.

Another woman, who could barely walk before the procedure, has since walked down the aisle to get married and is now expecting a baby.

One of the patients, who was completely paralyzed except for her left thumb, is now up and walking.

The treatment, which was carried out by scientists at Stanford University in California, is thought to be so effective because it triggers the rapid regeneration of brain circuits damaged during a stroke.

Scientists are now preparing larger studies on 156 chronic stroke patients for a randomized double blind trial to prove that the treatment works.

“Huge respect should be paid to the patients who took part in this trial and others like it. None of them knew at the start whether it would make them any better,” said Professor Pippa Tyrrell, a consultant in stroke medicine at the UK’s Manchester University, to the Mail. “I think it is incredibly exciting, not just for stroke but for spinal cord injuries as well. We have been talking about stem cells for years, and at last we have a signal that it might just lead to an improvement - we now need further trials to show that this is the case.”

“This was just a single trial, and a small one,” Professor Steinberg said. “But some patients couldn’t walk. Others couldn’t move their arm. Patients who were in wheelchairs are walking now. Older people tend not to respond to treatment as well, but here we see 70-year-olds recovering substantially.”

He added: “This could revolutionize our concept of what happens after not only stroke, but traumatic brain injury and even neurodegenerative disorders. The notion was that once the brain is injured, it doesn’t recover — you’re stuck with it. But if we can figure out how to jump-start these damaged brain circuits, we can change the whole effect. We thought those brain circuits were dead. And we’ve learned that they’re not.”

Best of all, the treatment does not rely on embryonic stem cells which are acquired through the loss of human life, but is instead relying upon adult stem cells which are not only plentiful but ethically sound as well.

© All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace®  http://www.womenofgrace.com