Stem Cell Research has brought to mankind remarkable results. The use of non-embryonic stem cells have brought a particular recent success to many people. Research at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, headed by a Dr. Richard Burt, has produced a procedure utilizing cells that come from the patient that has been successful in the cases that have undergone treatment. The process is known as Autologous Hermatopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (AHSCT) that has currently been used on patients who have the most common form of Multiple Sclerosis (MS Unites, 2016). The procedure uses the body’s stem cells from the blood stream only (MS Unites, 2016). The cells are frozen until the patient goes through the actual procedure of receiving the cells, and are watched over a period of several weeks, during which time they are given everything that their body needs for recovery during this time (MS Unites, 2016). There is no embryo or fetus involved, because the cells come from the adult (MS Unites, 2016). The only wait time is for the other procedures that take place, which have nothing to do with other cells from anywhere else except the patient. The research was first done on patients by Dr. Burt and his team at Northwestern Memorial Medical Center. The patients underwent the procedure, and out of all of the patients treated by a transplant of the stem cells, 80 percent of them have not shown symptoms of relapsing-remitting Multiple Sclerosis over the past four years since their transplant, which cost $125,000 in 2015. (Burtchell, 2015). These facts, hopefully will serve notice to many people who are hurting from the disease of Multiple Sclerosis that there is hope, and it comes from non-embryonic stem cell research that has been tried and been proven successful for most of the patients.
Works Cited
Burtchell, Jeri. "Health Line". Health Line. N.p., 2016. Web. 5 Aug. 2016.
MS Unites. (2016). "Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (HCST)". MS Unites - Multiple Sclerosis Information and News Portal. N.p., 2016. Web. 5 Aug. 2016.
