Stem Cell Treatments : Facts

Stem Cell Treatments : Facts

Stem cells are those that make other cells, like Brahma the creator.

Stem cells can come from the embryo or foetus (aborted material), placenta and umblical cord (newborn), adult donors or even made in a laboratory (tissue culture).

Stem cells have been used in medical treatments since more than 50 years to save lives.

Many blood cancers like lymphoma, Leukemia and myeloma as well as a lot of genetic disorders like Thalassemia, sickle cell anemia, immune deficiency, rare neurological diseases are curable with this exciting mode of therapy.

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A patient can either have his own (autologous) or someone else’s (allogenic) stem cells
used for the treatment.

If it’s someone else there should be good tissue matching (not blood group).

Cord stem cells can also be used for these treatments.

Recently stem cells are also being tried to treat spinal cord injuries, Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis and so on.

These are all in a nascent stage of experimentation and research.

But in future there is every chance we may succeed.

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Nowadays we use machines called cell separators to take stem cells from the blood itself. So giving stem cells is almost like blood donation, only it takes a few hours to procure the stem cells.

Healthy people should make it a habit of donating blood regularly. Best time to start donation is when you are in college after age 18 and make it a regular habit.