Strokes are the leading cause of disability in the United States. Theres no technology that can reverse the damage done after one occurs but that might be changing.
At the University of Miamis Miller School of Medicine, one doctor is participating in a national trial where bone marrow stem cells are being tested to regenerate brain cells that die during a stroke.
Dr. Dileep R. Yavagal, associate professor of neurology and neurosurgery and the director of interventional neurology, was chosen to lead the Southeast portion of the study because of his research on stem cells in the carotid artery for the past four years.
Whats been found is that the cells mainly have a nursing function, Yavagal said. When using the bone marrow stem cells, those cells dont end up replacing dead cells by themselves, but they enhance the bodys process of repair.
The Recover-Stroke trial began in December 2012 and has enrolled 30 patients across the nation so far, five of whom were treated in South Florida. Other states participating include Texas, California, Ohio and Georgia.
James Anderson, 58, a physical education teacher from Fryeburg, Maine, is one of Yavagals patients who received the stem cell implants in December.
I started to feel tingly and unsteady and my eyes looked a little bit blank, then my wife convinced me that something was wrong, said Anderson, who was flown to Jackson Memorial Hospital from Naples, where he planned to visit his mother-in-law for Christmas vacation.
I was given the option to participate in something that had very little risk and potential reward, Anderson said. I thought it was a progressive opportunity.
After a stroke, a range of conditions can occur: paralysis, inability to speak, loss of vision, and the bodys inability to repair itself.
For Anderson, the left side of his body was affected and he was left using a wheelchair. The doctors told him it would take a year to recover, but its been five months and he is walking with a quad-walker, lifting his left arm over his head, and in September will return to work using a cane.
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