While it seems like restoring blood flow to an injured leg would be a good thing, it can actually cause additional damage that hinders recovery, researchers say. Ischemia reperfusion injury affects nearly two million Americans annually with a wide variety of scenarios that temporarily impede blood flow -- from traumatic limb injuries, to heart attacks, to donor organs, said Dr. Babak Baban, immunologist at the Medical College of Georgia and College of Dental Medicine at Georgia Regents University. Restoring blood flow actually heightens inflammation and cell death rather than recovery for many of these patients. "Think about trying to hold onto a nuclear power plant after you unplug the electricity and cannot pump water to cool it down," said Dr. Jack Yu, Chief of MCG's Section of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. "All kinds of bad things start happening." Baban and Yu are collaborators on a study published in the journal PLOS ONE that shows one way stem cell therapy appears to intervene is with the help of an enzyme also used by a fetus to escape rejection by the mother's immune system. Earlier studies indicate stem cells may improve recovery both by enabling new blood vessel growth and by turning … Continue reading →

Langfords Hannah Day is all thumbs up after finding out her blood is currently cancer free, half way through her stem cell transplant process. Hannahs mother says the four-year-old is thriving. image credit: Submitted photo Langford resident Hannah Day has passed a milestone in her struggle against leukemia, her second cancer diagnoses in her short life. Mother Brooke Ervin said four-year-old Hannah, who underwent a stem cell transplant with her mother as host, has had a recent biopsy come back revealing there are currently no traces of the cancer in her blood. My stem cells are doing the job that (doctors) hoped that they would, Ervin said. Shes thriving. The doctors cant believe it. They just went in there and theyre chasing her around and joking with her and tickling her. Hannah has been discharged from B.C. Childrens Hospital, though still has to attend clinic up to four times per week, keeping her family in Vancouver. Thats the hugest and best news we could ever ask for, Ervin said of the discharge. At the time of writing Day was on Day 54 since the transplant, with Day 100 being the big goal to get to. The process is causing Hannah … Continue reading →

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- "Grace is what's carried me through this," Minch told Ivanhoe. Ten years ago, at just 49, the choir singer and her husband were told she would need a quadruple bypass. "Now we are at the point where my heart is severely damaged and nothing is really helping," Minch said. Doctors said a heart transplant was her only option, but she'll soon find out if she'll be accepted into a new trial that could use her own stem cells to help repair the once thought irreversible damage, "or even create new blood vessels within areas of the heart that have been damaged," Jon George, MD, Interventional Cardiologist, Temple University School of Medicine, told Ivanhoe. First, stem cells are taken from a patient's bone marrow. Then using a special catheter and 3D mapping tool, the cells are injected directly into the damaged tissue. "We have results from animal data that show blood vessels regrow in the patients that actually get stem cell therapy," Dr. George said. It's a possible answer to Debbie's prayers. Temple University Hospital is currently pre-screening patients for the trial. For more information, call 215-707-5340. ------ See the article here: Stem Cells to The Rescue: … Continue reading →