6 Types of Stem Cell Treatments
Stem cell injections can regenerate damaged tissues, but each treatment approach employs distinct methodologies and applications. Understanding the different treatment types can help you and your physician pursue the best options for your needs and lifestyle. Here are six types of stem cell treatments:
Hematopoietic Stem Cell Therapies
Hematopoietic stem cell therapies are used for diseases affecting blood cells, such as leukemia or sickle cell anemia. This process involves destroying defective cells and replacing them with healthy ones from a compatible donor. The newly introduced blood-cell-forming stem cells migrate to the bone marrow to create new blood. Hematopoietic stem cell transplants are commonly referred to as bone marrow transplants.
Mesenchymal stem cells have reparative properties for conditions beyond blood diseases. After injuries, these cells can regenerate cartilage, bone, muscle, and skin tissues. Mesenchymal stem cell injections may relieve osteoarthritis symptoms by regenerating damaged joint cartilage.
Neural Stem Cell Treatments
Neural stem cells differentiate into cell types that comprise the brain and spinal cord tissues. Scientists could use injections of these cells to attempt to regenerate neurons and glial cells to restore functions lost in nervous system illnesses like Parkinson’s or ALS during neural stem cell injections. Replacing lost or impaired neural cell types could relieve disease symptoms.
Embryonic Stem Cell Applications
Embryonic stem cells possess pluripotency, which allows them to become virtually any cell type in the body. This makes them candidates for many ailments resulting from tissue loss or failure because these injected stem cells could replace missing or malfunctioning cell types. Banks of embryonic stem cells offer researchers a supply for investigating genetic engineering and regenerative medicine applications.
iPSC-Based Techniques
Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) begin as adult cells reprogrammed back into an embryo-like state. Afterward, the iPSCs can reproduce endlessly and become any cell type needed for research or therapeutic purposes. iPSC-based techniques use patient-derived cells to regenerate compatible replacement tissues, with applications including spinal cord injury repair, diabetes remission through beta cell replacement, and regeneration of deteriorating heart muscle.
Tissue-Specific Stem Treatments
Some stem cells are naturally restricted to differentiating into only the cell types of their tissue of origin, a characteristic known as being unipotent or oligopotent. Hospitals use tissue-specific stem cell therapies, such as skin stem cells, to help heal burns, and cardiac stem cell injections aid heart attack recovery. Isolating tissue-specific stem cells from biopsy samples provides materials for regenerative medicine tailored to the cell types the patient’s condition requires.
Personalized Stem Cell Injections
Personalized medicine aims to deliver precise treatments tailored to each patient’s needs instead of a one-size-fits-all approach. This style of medicine may integrate cell treatments. Doctors’ research into creating cell therapies matching each patient’s specific genetic profile continues advancing. Some hospitals may offer regenerative medicine to deliver matching replacement cells developed from individual patients’ tissues.
Schedule For Stem Cell Treatment Today
Regenerative stem cell approaches make navigating cell injections more helpful. Each procedure holds different levels of development and routes to becoming standard medical practice. Your symptoms and aspirations for your quality of life help guide you and your doctor toward stem cell treatments that could hold the potential to heal tissue damage afflicting your body from the inside out. Contact treatment experts today.