Well, that was certainly short lived. The headline I read to day said: "Economics sink embryonic stem cell effort". ...But this month Geron abruptly pulled the plug on its pioneering trial and the rest of the stem cell business, including early work on treatment for heart ailments.
In my volunteer position I talk with heart patients and their families as I have had a lot of heart procedures, and I often comment that those of us with heart troubles are fortunate compared to those with lung, kidney, liver, etc. troubles, the heart can be repaired. This stem cell information is exciting to say the least.
Thank you for posting this. It really is amazing how far medicine has come. My sister had a heart attack 2 years ago and the hospital had no heart unit at all. So, she had to be air lifted to another one to receive her stents. Now, the hospital has a new heart unit and they're doing stents through the wrist!
The program I watched about the stems cells and the man who when through this procedure was amazing. I do believe we'll be hearing much more about this in the next few years.
Even sadder they don't realise it's more beneficial to give the treatment for free, especially to keep people in work and help the economy.
However, I personally believe they will find a way to activate the normally dormant heart stem cells, so we have a natural repair mechanism in place. Perhaps a drug at birth would be the result ensuring a repairing heart for life.
The sad part is: for millions of people it is useless, because they cannot afford it.
Yes and trials/research like this give a lot of hope for millions of people. I can't wait to see what else stem cell research provides.
I just watched a program on this very same thing. Very interesting!