09 August 2010
By Pushpa Narayan
Chennai, India
Doctors are now trying to use stem cells to save limbs from amputation. A citybased team extracted stem cells from the bone marrow and injected them into the leg of patients slated for amputation. Weeks later, doctors saw growth of new vessels that carried blood to the blood–starved leg. Most of the patients were walking in six months.
The department of vascular surgery at Sri Ramachandra University and Life Cell, a private cord blood bank, worked with 60 patients suffering from critical limb ischemia, who were to undergo amputation. After six months, doctors reversed their decision to amputate in all but six patients.
Disclaimer: The news story on this page is the copyright of the cited publication. This has been reproduced here for visitors to review, comment on and discuss. This is in keeping with the principle of ‘Fair dealing’ or ‘Fair use’. Visitors may click on the publication name, in the news story, to visit the original article as it appears on the publication’s website.