Havana: About 1700 patients were treated until December, 2011, with stem cells, a treatment with promising results, according to official sources quoted by media.
Results are similar to those reached in developed countries, avoiding important amputations to patients, told to Gramma newspaper Doctor Porfirio Hernandez, coordinator of the National Group for Regenerative Medicine at the Ministry of Public Health.
According to Hernandez, the treatment is still trial phase under strict selection criteria, although 10 of the 15 Cuban provinces already receive that service.
Hernandez said that Cuba has contributed significantly to the international scientific literature in the sphere, as in the case of improvements experienced by those patients suffering from chronic Lymphedema in lower limbs.
Hernandez also mentioned the case of a minor suffering from Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), who was treated with a procedure based on stem cells, avoiding a lung transplant.
With the capacity of splitting without limits, stem cells can regenerate tissues damaged by diseases, trauma or aging.
It is mainly obtained by bone marrow, peripheral blood, cornea, brain, lung and endometrium.
PTI
