Fixing Brains of Cancer Patients
Patients who have lost cognitive function to brain cancer treatment may be able to make a complete recovery. A stem cell study points to possibilities for regrowing brain tissue. The stem cells used are neural cells which present no ethical issues.
Cancer patients often experience severe impairment as a result of radiation treatment for brain cancer. "Pediatric cancer patients can experience a drop of up to three IQ points per year," said lead researcher Charles Limoli, Ph.D.
In experiments with rats, neural stem cells were shown to reverse this decline when the rats were tested after one and four months. It is believed that similar results may be obtained in humans.