Most people have heard of the innovative, exciting and potentially revolutionary medical procedures that are involved in stem cell therapy, but not many understand exactly what it entails and how it could benefit their lives and conditions that they currently suffer with.
Stem cell therapy, also known as regenerative therapy, has the potential to help treat a wide range of conditions in the future including spinal cord injury, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes and Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
Interested to know more?
Keep reading to discover everything you need to know about stem cell therapy; from what exactly stem cells are, to how they can help regenerate specific areas of your body, to what the process involves, plus, find out how this highly advanced treatment could potentially help you.
What are stem cells?
Stem cells are body cells that are able to become the cells for many different types of bodily tissues. In fact, no other cells in your body have the natural ability to generate new cell types other than stem cells.
Furthermore, under the right conditions, either in the body or in a laboratory, stem cells can divide to form more cells. These are called daughter cells. Once you have daughter cells, then these have the ability to be either new, self-renewal stem cells or to become specialized cells for a particular function such as blood, brain or bone cells.
What is stem cell therapy?
Stem cell therapy is a type of alternative medicine also known as regenerative medicine. It involves the promotion of the repair response of any diseased, dysfunctional or injured tissues using stem cells.
In a way, it is similar to organ donation, but instead of having to rely on donors, which are often in limited supply, this process utilizes cells that are in abundance.
The process works by researchers growing stem cells in a laboratory where they are then manipulated into specialized cells such as heart muscle cells or nerve cells. These cells can then be implanted into the affected area of the patient where they will then have the ability to repair any defects. For example, if the person suffered with heart disease, the stem cells could potentially be able to regenerate the defective heart muscle.
Why is there such an interest in stem cell therapy at the moment?
Although adult stem cells have already been used for many decades to treat certain blood cancers and genetic disorders through the process of bone marrow or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, ongoing research and development now means that they have the potential to:
- Increase our understanding of how diseases come about
- Generate healthy cells to replace any diseased ones (regenerative medicine)
As well as having the potential to help cure a wide variety of diseases that kill hundreds of thousands of people each year, stem cell therapy is also able to help combat a range of other health concerns including:
- Chronic pain
- Tendonitis
- Concussions
- Occipital migraines
- Broken bones
- Osteoarthritis
- Sexual health issues including dyspareunia and urinary incontinence
- Effects of ageing including wrinkles and fine lines
This is a guest blog entry.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your comments are welcome.