This trial marks a transition in stroke medicine from prevention and damage-limiting efforts to restoration of lost brain function. This trial opens the door to fuller recovery from stroke.
Doctors plan to perform the experimental procedure on twelve more patients.
The first four cases will take place at one-month intervals. The study is open to mail and female patients between the ages of 40 and 75, whose stroke occurred six months to six years previously and have a fixed functional motor deficit that has been stable for at least two months. The implanted cells originated from a human teratocarcinoma found in a 22 year old cancer patient. These tumors of the reproductive organs are composed of embryonic-like cells. The cells are transferred to a long needled syringe.