Otherwise known as a ‘brain attack’, strokes occur when blood fails to reach the brain. This can happen for a couple of reasons; either a blood vessel in the brain has ruptured, or the blood supply to the brain has been blocked. When blood fails to reach brain cells, there is a high risk of vital cells dying off, which can lead to severe brain damage. Thankfully, a new type of therapy has emerged in recent times for patients who have suffered from a stroke. Large strides have recently been taken toward developing a stem cell for stroke therapy.
With strokes being the fourth leading cause of death in the United States today and the second leading cause of death worldwide, researchers have been looking for new ways to treat patients who suffer from this deadly issue before it is too late. At MetroMD Institute of Regenerative Medicine, more and more scientists have been turning their research focus to using stem cell for stroke therapy.
Current Treatment and Therapy
So far, the most effective way to treat a stroke is for the patient to get to a hospital within three to four hours of the initial onset of the stroke where they will be administered medications, which help break down blood clots, reducing disability and improving the patient’s long-term quality of life.
Therapies after a stroke require a wide range of medical professionals including physiotherapists, neurologists, speech therapists, and nurses. Treatments are centered on neurorehabilitation, helping the undamaged areas of the brain to relearn basic skills they may have lost, such as walking and talking. However, parts of the brain that have been severely damaged are unable to recover because the body is unable to produce more brain cells to replace the ones that were lost. This is where scientists are hoping that using stem cell for stroke therapy can make a big difference.
How Stem Cell Therapy Can Make a Difference
Some phenomenal discoveries have been made in using stem cell for stroke therapy in recent times. It has been discovered that there are properties of stem cells that, when used in the proper procedure, can help patients who have suffered from a stroke. The stem cells used in the procedure are usually extracted directly from the bone marrow of the patient. The primary function of the extracted cells is to form blood vessel lining cells and blood cells. When planted in the brain, they release a chemical that causes blood vessels and new brain tissue to develop in the damaged area.
Using stem cell therapy at MetroMD Institute of Regenerative Medicine has proven to be a safe and promising treatment for restoring some of the patient’s lost brain functions after suffering from a severe stroke. For the first time in history, stroke patients have been given the chance to achieve a higher quality of life after suffering from a severe stroke.
