Dr. Gary Steinberg, chair of neurosurgery and the co-director of the Stanford Stroke Center, and his colleagues were only testing to see whether the injections were safe, which is how phase one clinical trials usually work. Patients who have been relying on the wheelchair for a long time even managed to walk again.
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Although the trial was small and created to primarily test the safety of the procedure, the results were promising enough that Steinberg is now currently recruiting participants for an expanded trial of the procedure, describing the patients’ newfound ability to move and walk around as “unprecedented”, adding that “At six months out from a stroke, you don’t expect to see any further recovery”.
The results showed that all these patients showed significant recovery by a number of measures within a month’s time, and they continued improving for several months afterward, sustaining these improvements at six and 12 months after surgery. Lifting their legs off their bed. Doctors were amazed to find that the treatment even worked for patients whose strokes had occurred between six months and three years previously, “Stroke” reported. “The results were very exciting”.
Statistics show that around 800,000 people have a stroke every year in the United States. According to the researchers, numerous survivors ended up facing a new reality, in which lost motor function was unlikely to return. Then they injected modified adult stem cells directly into the region of the brain influenced by stroke.
The stem cells used were taken from the bone marrow of two donors.
The patients, who remained conscious during the entire process, were allowed to go home after the treatment.
“We used to think the affected brain circuits were dead”, Steinberg told New Scientist.
Recently, researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine have made it their mission to improve these outcomes.
Part of the reason the brain was able to fix itself so well is thought to be due to the cells making the adult brain more like the brain of a baby.
The study was published online June 2 in the journal Stroke.
Interestingly, the study showed that the implanted stem cells begin to disappear about one month after the procedure and are gone by two months.
The team is now planning a similar study on a larger sample of 156 chronic stroke patients to determine if the findings can be replicated on a larger scale. The primary objective of the study was primarily conducted to determine whether the injection of stem cells directly into the brain would cause any untoward side effects. “And infants recover very well after a stroke, because their brains have greater plasticity, and the ability to form new connections between cells already in the brain”.
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“The most dramatic improvements were in strength, coordination, ability to walk, the ability to use hands and the ability to communicate, especially in those whose speech had been damaged by the stroke“, said Steinberg. Talking to New Scientist, Steinberg says the cells activate a range of growth factors, and alter the immune system “to get rid of inflammation that otherwise obstructs fix”. In this next study, one-third of the patients will receive a placebo treatment, to help the team assess just how effective the technique really is.
