The treatment consists of removing red cells and combining a concentration of platelets and progenitor cells with calcium and thrombin. The final mixture looks like Jell-O, and the application process takes about 15 minutes.

The process was tested out on patient Kaye Adkins, who had an open wound on her foot that weeks of treatment — including a skin graft — had failed to heal. Adkins said she initially thought they were going to inject something into her foot and was excited to hear it was, instead, a spray that would be applied during a second graft.

This time, the graft was successful, and the wound healed.

“I had never heard of anything like that,” she said. “It was just amazing.”

Dr. Amalia Cochran of the University of Utah Health Care Burn Center said, in Adkins’ case, as in others, bacteria must be removed before the spray can be used.

Read full article at Deseret News.

The 19-year-old former gymnast will be setting off to Russia for her third cycle of stem cell treatment in January after which she is hoping to be able to stand up alone.

Ms. Kravchenko suffered a spinal cord injury when a lighting structure fell on her during a party in Qawra (Malta) in September 2008. She had been told she would never walk again but the determined teenager decided to try out experimental stem cell treatment at the Neurovita Clinic in Moscow. After her second treatment session last July, she developed her hip muscles, which gave her the control to crawl and stand with some help. Now, four months later, she has made more progress.

“I feel I’m getting stronger and can now stand up without feeling dizzy. After this third treatment, I’m expecting to stand up alone, without the help of my mum or my standing frame,” she said.

Ms Kravchenko explained the treatment alone was not enough. She had to undergo specialized rehabilitation.

The treatment itself will cost her about €7,000 that would involve a two-week stay in Russia. But she is hoping to stay for a month to benefit from the rehabilitation that would cost her double the amount.

Read the full article at TimeofMalta.com.

Doctors in Covington, La., are hoping that they are taking the first step, to one day help people with spinal cord injuries walk again.

Now medical history may be made right here in our own backyard.

Marine Cpl. Matt Cole, 29, did two tours of duty in Iraq. He’s been a crew chief for an amphibious assault vehicle and a gunner for a troop transport vehicle. But his second tour was cut short on May 17, 2005.

“We were attacked with mortars and rockets by insurgents on our base. The first mortar that dropped exploded behind me, which sent shrapnel into my back and damaged my spinal cord,” said Cole.

Cole was paralyzed and also had a collapsed lung. His platoon was told he probably would not live.

“I couldn’t get enough oxygen in, so they pretty much wrote me off when they put me on the Medivac chopper. It was little about an hour from the time I was injured to the time they flew me out,” said Cole.

Read the full article at WWLTV.com

“Theoretically I should be gone,” said Derek Van Wyk.

For six years Van Wyk’s been fighting ALS or Lou Gherig’s disease. Those diagnosed with ALS have a life expectancy of 3-5 years. There is no cure.

“Some people bow down and accept it. I won’t,” Van Wyk said.

To extend his life Van Wyk put his faith in a controversial treatment and a doctor thousands of miles away.

“At least they’re trying. Around here you get nothing,” Van Wyk said.

Van Wyk went to India to undergo embryonic stem cell therapy. He the cells injected into several parts of his body including his arms, legs, and the palms of his hands.

“The major procedures are in your epidural. In your spine,” Van Wyk said.

Van Wyk said it’s working by stabilizing his condition and in some cases reversing his symptoms. The American medial community remains skeptical.

Dr. Mark Noble, of the University of Rochester Medical Center, has been studying the potential use of stem cells for more than 30 years. He believes this research will eventually provide new treatments for ALS, Parkinson’s disease and spinal cord injuries. But, he warned, some doctors overseas are cutting corners.

Read full article at YNN Rochester.

IN the last two months, two news items that made international headlines were linked by the themes of stem cells and hope.

Dr Robert Trossel started to give stem cell injections to patients with multiple sclerosis about a decade ago. This was and still is unproven therapy.

Dr Trossel’s practices were highlighted in a BBC Newsnight investigation in 2006. The following year, he was suspended by the General Medical Council (GMC). A hearing of the GMC fitness to practise panel said that Dr Trossel had exaggerated the benefits of stem cell treatment based on “anecdotal and aspirational information”.

Finally, the GMC took the decision to strike off Dr. Trossel from the medical register for giving false hope to desperate patients, charging thousands of pounds for “pointless” and “unjustifiable” stem cell treatments. Dr Trossel can no longer practise medicine in the UK.

False hope. Is there any other kind? Is hope overrated? To some, it is the only thing to live for. They may go along with Oliver Goldsmith, who said, “Hope, like the gleaming Taper’s light, adorns and cheers our way; and still, as darker grows the night, emits a brighter ray.”

Read the full article at The Star Online.

Dr. Wong Yoke Meng, 63, who practices at Clinique Suisse at the Paragon Medical Centre, was found guilty of offering stem cells for anti-aging treatment in an advertisement on a poster in the clinic.

The council’s disciplinary committee found this to have breached its ethical codes and guidelines laid down in March 2008.

The advertisement promoted skin generation for facial and body rejuvenation — “for a fresher younger look” — a treatment which the SMC said was not medically proven.

Contesting the charge, Dr. Wong claimed that the offered services described as stem cell for skin therapy were merely the topical application of stem cell creams. As such, he was not providing any medical treatment but merely selling cosmetics to patients.

Dr. Wong said he had no idea that stem cell therapy was not legal in Singapore and believed he was not doing any harm.

The disciplinary committee did not accept his position.

Read the full article at Today Online.

RNL Bio, the Seoul-based biotechnology firm that has found itself at the center of the controversy, claims that there is no solid evidence to suggest that the recent deaths of two Korean patients were related to stem cells it derived from the adult cells of the patients.

Beside the deaths, another patient claims he found cancer developing in his neck just weeks after receiving stem cell injections at a clinic in China in August last year to treat diabetes.

The incidents were revealed by Democratic Party lawmaker Joo Seung-yong in a National Assembly audit of the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

RNL had allowed the patients to take their patient-specific stem cells to hospitals in China and Japan for treatment, as Korea has yet to allow the clinical use of such stem cells.

Read the full article at The Korea Times.

It is a scene her parents believe owes much to Sasha’s involvement in a pioneering stem cell treatment for cerebral palsy.

The three-year-old is believed to be the first British child to be infused with her own umbilical cord blood cells, and her parents told yesterday how they believe the controversial procedure has improved the toddler’s ability to walk, see and speak.

Sasha took part in the first trial to treat cerebral palsy, an umbrella term for a range of different conditions where the brain doesn’t work properly, causing problems with movement, posture and co-ordination, by injecting patients with stem cells harvested from their umbilical cords after birth.

Read the full article at The Daily Mail.

Inger Marie Olsen from Norway recently concluded a cycle of the treatment in Beijing, and she has been in a stable condition since the first cycle in September 2009.

“For brain cancer patients after surgery, the combined DC-CIK and stem cell therapy from Cellonis Biotechnologies can be a very effective method in preventing cancer recurrence,” Dr. Dinggang Li said. “This is a new hope for cancer patients.” Li has been guiding the treatment of Inger.

“Inger’s general condition has improved very much,” he said. “She can now speak, move, eat and sleep much better, she has improved a great deal. I think her quality of life is almost back to normal.”

“I was diagnosed with cancer in 2005,” Inger said. “I had chemotherapy, radiotherapy and three surgeries, but the cancer still came back. A friend of mine read about this new therapy on the internet and the people of my town arranged a fund to help me come here.”

The Cellonis cancer therapy combines the latest research into cancer stem cells with the advantages of Traditional Chinese Medicine to create a unique cancer treatment. Dendritic cells, cultured and processed from blood taken from the patient’s body, are loaded with glioma stem cell antigens to create a vaccine that can activate the immune system to kill cancer cells as well as the cancer stem cells responsible for tumor initiation and recurrence. Another patient like Inger with glioma who undertook the treatment earlier this year, Guy Spavold from Canada, has been in stable condition since April with a good quality of life.

Read the full press release on this treatment here.

Contact: http://www.cellonis.com

But for the Ghellis, they’re improvements that have always seemed out of reach until a recent trip to Germany.

Jona Ghelli, a Holliston (Mass.) 16-year-old, has cerebral palsy and microcephaly, resulting in significant cognitive and physical impairments. She also suffers from a seizure disorder.

Jona and her parents, Joanne and Paul, got back a few weeks ago from Dussledorf, Germany, where Jona underwent stem cell treatment at the XCell Center.

Although life has since returned to its normal pace in the Ghelli household, Joanne Ghelli said she is still thrilled with the results of the treatment.

“Jona’s doing great,” she said. “We saw improvements almost immediately.”

During the procedure, adult stem cells were taken from Jona’s hip bone and sent to a lab before being injected back into her spine.

Joanne Ghelli said the first hint that the treatment had a level of success came only hours after Jona underwent the procedure.

Read the full article at The MetroWest Daily News.