Proventus
Making Life Fairer
Help-
Working together to make a difference
Find Us Here
If you have experienced any adverse side effects from a medication or therapy -
Stem Cell Therapy -
We are following the development of stem cell research with great interest although
the jury still seems out on what this therapy may have to offer sufferers of neurological
conditions right now. There have been articles about fantastic improvements in some
cases of MS although our initial excitement has more recently been tempered somewhat
by a certain lack of follow-
We still believe that there is a great future for this method of treatment but for the moment we think that more evidence, pursued along more rigorous scientific approaches, is necessary before we can wholehearted endorse this approach. Indeed several Proventus members have followed this route but their results have been nowhere near as dramatic as those published in the media sometimes they have been completely unimproved while others even found themselves definitely worse.
What follows is hopefully a more balanced perspective on the state of current stem cell thinking.
Proventus contacted Prof. Raisman to ask for his views on stem cell transplant therapy in relation to neurological conditions and disease processes (as opposed to his own work on the beneficial effects in nerve injury).
Prof Raisman moved into Queens Square, London December 2005 under the auspices of the Institute of Neurology and University College, London.
This is because he and his 6-
He felt that conditions such as MS were a particularly difficult area where this therapy was concerned primarily because of their diffuse and widespread natures and often as progressive diseases whose origins were not fully understood.
Even if there were to be an initial positive response the MS (as an example) progression may well resume after a short period owing to the fact that the fundamental condition had not been cured and may well be ongoing under the surface.
Prof Geoff Raisman FRS
A Leeds University-
Below is a precis of a six-
Prof Raisman has worked on stem cells from the nose where olfactory nerve cells are replaced every 60 days. They form in the upper nose and, when they sprout nerve fibres, they are steered by the body processes to their connecting goals in the brain pathways.
They owe their guiding potential to their shape and have tiny porous canals, like Cadbury’s Flake bars, through which the new nerve fibres grow and seek their corresponding partners across the gap or injury site.These fibrous arms “flap about” till they meet up with others on adjoining neurons
The basic strategy is to collect young stem cells from the patient, culture and cleanse them, and then inject them into the damaged site in the spinal cord, behind the scar tissue, in the hope they would guide the nerve fibres towards each other from either side of the scar.
There is now abundant laboratory clinical evidence that his strategy works well for there have been many remarkable recoveries by mice and rats described in detail.
Over these past years many sufferers have been encouraged to travel to other countries from the UK and elsewhere at great expense and effort. Private clinics have offered stem cell therapy treatment, more so as a treatment for some of the serious neurological, autoimmune diseases. The science has yet to be proven, some of the clinics were investigated and closed down.
Currently there is no scientific proof nor substantial anecdotal evidence that stem cell therapy is an effective treatment for many of the serious neurological, autoimmune diseases.
Other web sites