Saturday, 19 January 2019

Stem Cell Research Facilities Hope To Conquer Many Diseases

By Henry Robinson


One can only marvel at the way that medical science has progressed over the last few decades. Diseases that used to mow down millions of people no longer pose a threat. Organs are routinely transplanted and serious disabilities can be corrected. The list goes on and on. Scientific efforts are also ongoing and progress is made in many different fields. Stem cell research facilities believe that they are working in a field that will prove to forever change the way diseases are treated.

Bone marrow transplants have been performed for some years. Until now, however, only patients suffering from leukemia and other serious blood related diseases received them. These patients often receive chemo therapy and this kills all the cells indiscriminately. With bone marrow transplants, the idea is to stimulate the growth of new, healthy cells. The treatment is no yet failsafe, however, and it is still used only as a last resort.

Bone marrow transplants hold much promise, but they are definitely not a cure for cancer. Researchers hope that this will change. They are working on ways that will eventually result in marrow transplants actually curing many types of cancer and other serious diseases. These studies are slow and tedious, however, and progress is very slow. Researchers admit that a major breakthrough in the battle against cancer is still some time off.

It is not just cancer that is targeted by researchers in this field. The brain itself is also the focus of many studies. Scientists believe that it would be possible to grow healthy new cells inside the brain with the aim of replacing damaged or destroyed cells. If this can be achieved, then the damage caused by degenerative diseases such as dementia could be reversed. That would indeed be a major breakthrough.

It is believed that bone marrow transplants will even be able to stimulate the growth of new cells within the heart itself. These new cells will repair the damage caused by various types of heart disease. Millions of people die due to heart conditions every year and significant progress in this area will offer uncountable benefits to patients and will change the way in which medicine is practiced.

Scientists in this field are under constant attack from their critics. They say that these transplants are, in fact, extremely dangerous and that the prognosis of the patient is very poor. There is no clinical evidence that bone marrow transplants actually make a difference. The transplanted cells are often harvested from unborn babies and this says the critics, opens the doors to serious abuse and an unthinkable ethical dilemma.

Many critics also lambast their colleagues studying bone marrow transplants for creating a false impression about the progress they are making. No positive results will be available for many years to come and researchers simply raise the hopes of numerous desperate patients. They accuse researchers of creating high expectations simply in order to attract even more funding for their projects and studies.

One thing is sure, however. If even a fraction of the potential benefits of bone marrow transplants can be unlocked millions of people will indeed benefit. One can just hope that radical new treatment methods are really just around the corner.




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