RIO DE JANEIRO, November 23, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Brazilian scientists have successfully transplanted adult stem cells into a woman’s brain, facilitating her recovery from a brain hemorrhage that left her paralysed and unable to talk. Maria da Graca Pomeceno, 54, had bone marrow stem cells taken from her pelvis and injected into her damaged brain. Local television broadcasts showed her walking up stairs and talking. Hans Fernando Dohmann, director of Rio’s Pro-Cardiaco Hospital, said that hers was the first reported successful treatment of this condition, but that trials with 14 more patients are in the works. “We are still at a stage where we are focusing on the safety of the procedure and trying to avoid potential side effects. The next phase will be to test the treatment’s effectiveness,” he told the AFP.
Dohmann said, however, that he also supports the use of embryonic stem cells, which have had vastly less success than adult stem cells, praising proposed legislation tabled by the Brazilian Senate that would legalize the unethical research. Tv