CT Scan of Stroke

The incidence of ischemic stroke, caused by a blood clot, is nearly 700,000 per year in the US. Most survivors have some degree of permanent disability as a result. In a small clinical trial at Stanford University, involving 18 patients who had had their stroke six months to three years previously, surgeons injected mesenchymal stem cells (derived from donors’ bone marrow) and saw improvement in motor functions over the next two years. Interestingly, the stem cells only survived for about a month, but patient improvement continued after the transplanted cells died. MORE

Image Credit: Stanford and MedicalNewsToday.com