Paralyzed Woman Walks (We Want To Believe)

This is only one success story, although further trials are expected soon, asn the group haopes to publish results inthe first half of 2005 - more details in this story:

The team was co-headed by Chosun University professor Song Chang-hun, Seoul National University professor Kang Kyung-sun and Han Hoon, Ph.D, from the Seoul Cord Blood Bank (SCB).

``The stem cell transplantation was performed on Oct. 12 this year and in just three weeks she started to walk with the help of a walker,¡¯¡¯ Song said.

The patient's lower limbs were paralyzed after an accident in 1985 damaged her lower back and hips. Afterward she spent her life in bed or in a wheelchair.

For the unprecedented clinical test, the scientists isolated stem cells from umbilical cord blood and then injected them into the damaged part of the spinal cord.

The sensory and motor nerves of the patient started to improve 15 days after the operation and she could move her hips. After 25 days, her feet responded to stimulation.

Earlier in October 2003, Song¡'s team also staged a clinical test with stem cells originating from umbilical cord blood by injecting them into another patient¡¯s spine.

``Back then we injected stem cells into spinal fluid and failed to get a good result. This time around, we directly targeted the spine and the method made a difference,¡¯¡¯ Song said.

Song¡'s team look to further test efficiency of the new therapy with four more patients as soon as they get the green light from Chosun University ethics board and the government.

Song¡'s team plan to report their research to the scientific world within the first half of next year.

A key talking point is that the therapy used "multipotent stem cells... isolated from umbilical cord blood", rather than the more controversial (and less tested) embryonic stem cells.

Info on storing umbilical cord blood can be found at the Cord Blood Registry, which is a private commercial operation.  The pros and cons are noted here.  The gist - it is expensive, and the odds are that you won't need it for any of your own children or relatives.  Of course, the odds change if therapeutic applications such as the treatment of paralysis pan out.  Alternatively, if a participating hospital is otherwise suitable, the cord blood can be registered in a donor bank and made available to others who match.

That would be quite a holiday gift for somebody, again, assuming that this spinal cord therapy holds up to further testing.

Comments

[Les Nessman]

Huh.
I thought John Edwards said the paralyzed would walk if Kerry was elected.
Guess this is yet another dividend of Dubya's re-election.
Was this the worst election in Democrat history, or what?

[Cecil Turner]

Okay, but what's the take-away? Does it mean a Kerry victory wasn't necessary, or would've made it happen sooner if he'd been elected? Or did the Bush win push the work overseas?

Or, perhaps, that presidential politics doesn't really make the stars change their appointed paths, and all that "laying on of hands" BS was just BS? Man, this is all just so . . . nuanced.

[Les Nessman]

The take-away is how this exposes how foolish it is for one presidential campaign to intimate that if they are elected, spinal cord injuries will be cured. And by logical extension, if the other side is elected, there will be no cure.

I do hope that this is real and not a hoax or a one-time medical anomaly.

[John Thacker]

Cord blood transplants are great, please register. Also register for the bone marrow transplant database, it's very easy to do.

These are "adult" stem cells, even though they come from newborns. Lots of people seem to be confusing this around the web. The use of cord blood stem cells has long been far ahead and far more successful than experiments into embryonic stem cells. (Not to say that there's no chance of success with embryos, of course; then again, we do all draw lines somewhere.)

[Erik]

The problem isn't that she is walking again. The problem is that it happened in S Korea. AIDS vaccines in france, paralysis cured in S Korea. That's what happens when the religious right is given free reign over a country.

[Cecil Turner]

"That's what happens when the religious right is given free reign over a country."

I knew it! I'm a little foggy on how not providing government funding to all embryonic stem cell research is hamstringing umbilical cord blood treatments, but I'm sure someone will explain it to me.

BTW, "free reign" in that context is priceless.

[Towering Barbarian]

"*The problem is that it happened in S Korea*. AIDS vaccines in france, paralysis cured in S Korea. That's what happens when the religious right is given free reign over a country." (Emphasis mine).

Ah! So if only that nasty ole religious right weren't about then good little secular humanists would be able to forbid genetic research from going on in dem dere foreign lands? :P

If you don't like that question then perhaps you could refresh my memory - To what extent did the "religious right" cause the Euros to go on their anti-"Frankenfood" hysteria bouts? o_O

[saeed]

hi
I have spinal cord injury T8.
Please send me conntact eamil address for cure.

[sophy]

We all love game, if you want to play it, please cheap penya and join us.

[Atlantica online money]

Finally, we can sell Atlantica online money to improve anything!