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Stem Cell Therapy Shows Promise for Stroke, Studies Say

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WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- Treating stroke patients with stem cells used from their own bone marrow appears to safely help them regain some of their lost abilities, two tiny recent studies suggest.

Indian researchers observed combined results in the extent of stroke patients' improvements, with one study showing marked gains in daily activities, such as feeding, dressing as well as movement, as well as the other study noting these improvements to be statistically insignificant. But patients seemed to safely tolerate the treatments in both experiments with no sick effects, study authors said.

"The results are encouraging to know but we need a larger, randomized study for more definitive conclusions," said Dr. Rohit Bhatia, a professor of neurology at the All India Institute of Health examination Sciences in Recent Delhi, as well as author of one of the studies. "Many questions -- similar timing of transplantation, class of cells, mode of transplantation, dosage [and] long-term safety -- need answers before it can be used from bench to bedside."

The studies are scheduled to be presented Wednesday as well as Thursday at the American Stroke Association's annual meeting in Recent Orleans.

Stem cells -- unspecialized cells from bone marrow, umbilical cord blood or human embryos that can change into cells with specific functions -- possess been explored as potential therapies for a host of diseases as well as conditions, including cancer as well as strokes.

In one of the current studies, 120 moderately affected stroke patients ranging from 18 to 75 years aged were break into two groups, with half infused intravenously with stem cells harvested from their hip bones as well as half serving as controls. About 73 percent of the stem cell group achieved "assisted independence" after six months, compared with 61 percent of the control group, but the difference wasn't considered statistically significant.

In the other study, presented by Bhatia, 40 patients whose stroke occurred between three as well as 12 months prior were as well as break into two groups, with half receiving stem cells, which were dissolved in saline as well as infused over several hours. When compared to controls, stroke patients receiving stem cell therapy showed statistically significant improvements in feeding, dressing as well as mobility, according to the study. On functional MRI scans, the stem cell recipients as well as demonstrated an increase in brain activity in regions that control movement planning as well as motor function.

Neither study yielded adverse effects on patients, which could include tumor development.

But Dr. Matthew Fink, essential of the division of stroke as well as critical care neurology at Recent York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Health examination Center, said that the therapy's safety is the only thing the two studies seemed to demonstrate.

"The thing to keep in mind is that these are really phase one trials," said Fink, as well as a professor of neurology at Weill Cornell Health examination College. "I'm concerned that people get the idea that now stem cell treatment is available for stroke, as well as that's not the case."

Fink noted that the cells used from study participants' hip bones can only be characterized as "bone marrow aspirates" since the authors didn't prove that actual stem cells were extracted.

"They haven't really analyzed incase they're stem cells as well as what they turn into when they go into circulation," he added. "The best way to look at this is, it's very preliminary . . . when patients come to me to talk about it, I'm going to tell them it's years away before we know incase this is going to work."

Studies presented at scientific conferences should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed health examination journal.

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