Stem Cell Research and Recovery on PBS

Treatments, Rehabilitation, and Recovery
Susana
Posts: 161
Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2003 9:00 pm

Re: Stem Cell Research and Recovery on PBS

Post by Susana »

Christopher, where was the chat? is it still available to read? I want to just call that Doctor in Portugal and ask about brachial plexus, but how? I am so excited. I hope it is not too late for us.
Susana
Posts: 161
Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2003 9:00 pm

Re: Stem Cell Research and Recovery on PBS

Post by Susana »

OOPs! I just saw you posted the chat address.
Susana
Posts: 161
Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2003 9:00 pm

Re: Stem Cell Research and Recovery on PBS

Post by Susana »

I found another website where they are going to start research in the USA.

http://www.freep.com/news/health/spine13_20040413.htm

Also, other people who are raisinf funds to start this research.

http://www.freep.com/news/health/spine13_20040413.htm
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 19873
Joined: Mon Nov 16, 2009 9:59 pm

Re: Stem Cell Research and Recovery on PBS

Post by admin »

Can't find where anyone is starting research in the USA in this article, or did I read it wrong? Looks like they are evaluating people to send them to China or Portugal for the treatment then rehabilitating them at this facility.
At $50,000 that's cheaper than some bpi specialists!
Natty
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Feb 19, 2005 8:12 pm

Re: Stem Cell Research and Recovery on PBS

Post by Natty »

Im sorry for the messy writing and for being so direct.. but i really need to know
AND i need to contact Doctor Lima's... for my mother she has been in a wheel chair since i was 4 turning 5 (it happend on my birthday) I am now 19 turning 20..
I really would appreciate if i could get his Fax Email Number and what hospital he works in.. and if u could tell me how much the operation costs MY email is the_nat_2000@hotmail.com
ANY information will be greatly appriciated
Thank you in advance Natalie
Natty
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Feb 19, 2005 8:12 pm

Re: Stem Cell Research and Recovery on PBS

Post by Natty »

Im sorry i just read it again figured it was to good to be true ignore my earlier comment unless someone actualy has any contact information for me i would really appreciate it
User avatar
Christopher
Posts: 845
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2003 10:09 pm
Injury Description, Date, extent, surgical intervention etc: Date of Injury: 12/15/02

Level of Injury:
-dominant side C5, C6, & C7 avulsed. C8 & T1 stretched & crushed

BPI Related Surgeries:
-2 Intercostal nerves grafted to Biceps muscle,
-Free-Gracilis muscle transfer to Biceps Region innervated with 2 Intercostal nerves grafts.
-2 Sural nerves harvested from both Calves for nerve grafting.
-Partial Ulnar nerve grafted to Long Triceps.
-Uninjured C7 Hemi-Contralateral cross-over to Deltoid muscle.
-Wrist flexor tendon transfer to middle, ring, & pinky finger extensors.

Surgical medical facility:
Brachial Plexus Clinic at The Mayo Clinic, Rochester MN
(all surgeries successful)

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."
~Theodore Roosevelt
Location: Los Angeles, California USA

Re: Stem Cell Research and Recovery on PBS

Post by Christopher »

Call international information. Lisbon (the city), Portugal (the country) for Dr. Carlos Lima.

Dr. Carlos Lima of Lisbon's Hospital de Egas Moniz

Or get it from Dr. Steven Hinder's secratary at Wayne University's Spinal Rehabilitation Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. 313-966-0544

At the bottom of this article about great possiblities is a link to get the contact info for both Dr. Lima & Dr. Hinderer and the surgery in Portugal.

Is anyone else out there doing their own research on Stem Cell surgeries???

PBS Program update--

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/innovation/about_episode6.html

http://www.med.wayne.edu/neurology/Clin ... cstaff.htm

http://www.freep.com/news/health/prepar ... 050108.htm

http://home.tir.com/~slater/id13.html
User avatar
Christopher
Posts: 845
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2003 10:09 pm
Injury Description, Date, extent, surgical intervention etc: Date of Injury: 12/15/02

Level of Injury:
-dominant side C5, C6, & C7 avulsed. C8 & T1 stretched & crushed

BPI Related Surgeries:
-2 Intercostal nerves grafted to Biceps muscle,
-Free-Gracilis muscle transfer to Biceps Region innervated with 2 Intercostal nerves grafts.
-2 Sural nerves harvested from both Calves for nerve grafting.
-Partial Ulnar nerve grafted to Long Triceps.
-Uninjured C7 Hemi-Contralateral cross-over to Deltoid muscle.
-Wrist flexor tendon transfer to middle, ring, & pinky finger extensors.

Surgical medical facility:
Brachial Plexus Clinic at The Mayo Clinic, Rochester MN
(all surgeries successful)

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."
~Theodore Roosevelt
Location: Los Angeles, California USA

Re: Stem Cell Research and Recovery on PBS

Post by Christopher »

For those that haven't seen the Stem Cell program on PBS called "Miracle Cell" you should at the very least read the transcript online. I'll put a part of it below. I can't believe that anyone could watch that program and say that there is not a cure for BPI.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/innovation/tran ... sode6.html

Narrator: Experiments on rats have yielded promising results. In one trial in the UK, scientists cut the nerves that lead to the animal's left forepaw (essentially the Brachial Plexus). With such an injury, the rat could no longer use the paw to climb. Nor could it use that paw to reach for its food. Stem cells were then harvested from the animal's nose and transplanted around the damaged nerve. Within weeks, the treatment produced noticeable results.

Geoffrey Raisman: We've been able to restore the ability to climb. We've been able to restore complex reaching and control movements of the use of the forepaw. The sort of functions that a patient would want to recover if they didn't have the use of their hand. When we transplant the cells into that area of damage, the function comes back. You're seeing a glimpse through a doorway that has never been opened before.

This is what will get people out of wheelchairs. This is what will make stroke patients get better. This is what will restore the optic nerve in blindness, and the auditory nerve in deafness. If we can push that door open, there's an immense amount behind it. This will be revolutionary if we're successful.

Geoffrey Raisman: Here in this electron microscopic image, we're looking at a mass of stem cells harvested from the nose and have been transplanted into a rat's spinal cord. You can see this pale, this grayish area, with the two blobs. These are the transplanted stem cells. So here you can see the degree of intimacy in the relationship between the nerve fibers, which are growing, and the transplanted cells, which are making them grow.

So there's a nerve fiber, it's a nerve fiber which has been repaired, it's regenerated. And this is the nucleus of a transplanted stem cell, and you can see how the stem cell is wrapping round that nerve fiber. And here's another stem cell, and here it is wrapping around another nerve fiber. What you're seeing here is an act of creation by these cells.

Narator: The stem cells surround and support the rat's damaged nerve cells, giving them the ability to heal and regain function.

Geoffrey Raisman: We get consistent reconnection and restoration of function.

Kim Gould: When I keep hearing all the scientists saying. Well, its -- ye ah, we can prove it on rats and mice, and it's, yeah, well, you know, forget about the rats and mice get on to us. It's so frustrating. It's got to be done now, and if we are prepared to take the risk, try it on us. I am prepared to be the human animal experiment. Why not?

Narrator: But getting permission for human trials is a slow process, as regulators must evaluate the safety of every proposed treatment. Such trials are at least two years away in the US and the UK. Here in Portugal however, the first human tests of this experimental new therapy are already underway. At this public hospital in Lisbon, neurologist Carlos Lima has treated more than 20 carefully-selected spinal injury patients with their own nasal stem cells. Kim Gould has met Dr. Lima's stringent requirements and been approved for the trial. She is eager to know all the details before she goes under the knife.
User avatar
Christopher
Posts: 845
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2003 10:09 pm
Injury Description, Date, extent, surgical intervention etc: Date of Injury: 12/15/02

Level of Injury:
-dominant side C5, C6, & C7 avulsed. C8 & T1 stretched & crushed

BPI Related Surgeries:
-2 Intercostal nerves grafted to Biceps muscle,
-Free-Gracilis muscle transfer to Biceps Region innervated with 2 Intercostal nerves grafts.
-2 Sural nerves harvested from both Calves for nerve grafting.
-Partial Ulnar nerve grafted to Long Triceps.
-Uninjured C7 Hemi-Contralateral cross-over to Deltoid muscle.
-Wrist flexor tendon transfer to middle, ring, & pinky finger extensors.

Surgical medical facility:
Brachial Plexus Clinic at The Mayo Clinic, Rochester MN
(all surgeries successful)

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."
~Theodore Roosevelt
Location: Los Angeles, California USA

Re: Stem Cell Research and Recovery on PBS

Post by Christopher »

This is a post I started over a year and a half ago about the promise of Stem Cell Research and Brachial Plexus Paralysis. I have done countless hours of research and spoken to a myriad of doctors about this future of medicine and I'm it has come up so infrequently on these boards. I would bet my life that stem cell therapy is the cure for this injury but even the best of doctors are squeamish about embracing the reality of what has already happened and happening in this field. I was constantly challenging my doctors at the Mayo Clinic to open their eyes to the future of their field and was astonished at the reluctance. They only started taking me seriously when I would prove that I knew more about the current science of stem cells within the nervous system than they did. Hell it took me five months to convince them to save my triceps and by the time they did it was over 9 months post injury so the return is a fraction of what it couldve been.

What's my point??? Anyone that wants to prevent anyone else from losing the use of their arm and the life that went with that arm and it's use has to learn as much as possible about the regenerative stem cell frontier and start putting pressure on this countries involvement in active pursuit of what diligent scientists have already proved possible.

STEM CELLS DO REGENERATE DAMAGED NEURAL CELLS!!!

Dr. Steven Hinderer, Chairman of the Wayne State University School of Medicine Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation/Detroit Medical Center (one of the top spinal injury rehabilitation facilities in the U.S.), works with one of the leading European neural surgeons using stem cells in patients with spinal cord injury/paralysis (Dr. Carlos Lima), confirmed that Stem Cell Therapies have already been used successfully in LAB RATS for paralyzed limbs!!! Since when does a rat's limb have a higher priority than yours?

Below is a repasting of his response to my question from a live web chat...




Los Angeles, Calif. (me...):
Could the work being done by Dr. Carlos Lima in
Portugal with the olfactory stem cells potentially
work with peripheral nerves that have been
avulsed (like in a brachial plexus injury)? And
why isn't that kind of testing happening here in the
U.S.? Are doctors to fearful of legal
repercussions?

Dr. Steven Hinderer, Joy Veron and Erin Chapman: Yes it could potentially be used for nerve root avulsion - this has been done successfully in animals. The FDA has to give approval for this kind of research and is asking for more information and animal research before it will be allowed to be performed in the US.

Dr H.

Well I'll be damned as my arm shrivels into oblivion some damn rat can climb its way out of the laboratory to freedom with its ever so useful arms...
User avatar
Christopher
Posts: 845
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2003 10:09 pm
Injury Description, Date, extent, surgical intervention etc: Date of Injury: 12/15/02

Level of Injury:
-dominant side C5, C6, & C7 avulsed. C8 & T1 stretched & crushed

BPI Related Surgeries:
-2 Intercostal nerves grafted to Biceps muscle,
-Free-Gracilis muscle transfer to Biceps Region innervated with 2 Intercostal nerves grafts.
-2 Sural nerves harvested from both Calves for nerve grafting.
-Partial Ulnar nerve grafted to Long Triceps.
-Uninjured C7 Hemi-Contralateral cross-over to Deltoid muscle.
-Wrist flexor tendon transfer to middle, ring, & pinky finger extensors.

Surgical medical facility:
Brachial Plexus Clinic at The Mayo Clinic, Rochester MN
(all surgeries successful)

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."
~Theodore Roosevelt
Location: Los Angeles, California USA

Re: Stem Cell Research and Recovery on PBS

Post by Christopher »

I'm going to find a way to make this PBS video 'Miracle Cell' available for online viewing for any that wants to be awe struck. Someone did it before from a spinal cord injury site but that link is dead. I'll try by next week.


just the smallest teeniest weeniest sample of the amount of info out there... ABC NEWS/ONLINE


Cord blood stem cells cure paralysis


A South Korean woman paralysed for 20 years is walking again after scientists repaired her damaged spine using stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood.

Hwang Mi-Soon, 37, had been bedridden since damaging her back in an accident two decades ago.

South Korean researchers last week went public for the first time with the results of their stem cell therapy.

Ms Hwang walked into their press conference with the help of a walking frame.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/20 ... 253284.htm
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