Find out what stem cells are and their benefits for body health
Stem cells function to overcome damage in the body and carry out regeneration, so that damaged body cells will be replaced by stem cells
Apart from that, stem cells also function as anti-inflammatory and can trigger body cells to develop better.
Therefore, currently stem cells are increasingly being used by doctors and medical experts to treat various diseases suffered by patients, one of which is to treat brain diseases.
“The way it works is different, for example stem cells for damage to the brain. "If we inject it via DSA, that means it goes directly into the blood vessels in the brain and reaches the brain more quickly," said Yetty.
He added, "We also provide stem cell (treatment) for cases of Parkinson's, spinal cord injuries, head trauma, cerebral palsy, and even stroke," he said.
Interestingly, stem cell treatment is considered to work more quickly and effectively to treat stroke than other stroke treatments (such as thrombolysis or thrombectomy for ischemic stroke), especially for patients who have had a stroke under six months.
The sooner a stroke patient undergoes stem cell treatment, the sooner he or she will recover and be able to return to normal activities immediately.
“The results are much faster if the patient is in the acute (stroke) phase. "The improvement is very dramatic, today we injected, the next day the patient was back to normal," he said.
However, Yetty said that stem cell treatment is usually carried out with several injections and follow-up therapy so that the treatment results are optimal. For example, after undergoing stem cell treatment, patients continue the treatment process with neurorestoration therapy, physiotherapy, and others according to the type of disease and therapy needed.
This doctor from the Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Indonesia (FKUI) said that stem cells for treatment can be obtained from the patient's own body, such as from fat, bone marrow and skin.
However, Yetty recommends using stem cells from other sources for elderly patients because the number of stem cells in their bodies is less than in younger people, so they require additional stem cells from other people.
"For elderly people, we recommend giving stem cells not from themselves, but taken from other people," he said.
He added, "We usually select stem cells, apart from ensuring there is no infection, the stem cells also do not come from patients with cancer risk factors," explained Doctor Yetty.
