TELL CABANA BOY TO CALL OFF THE HUMAN SACRIFICE:

Paraplegic improving after stem-cell implant: Cells were moved from her nose to her spine; surgery was performed in Portugal in 2003. (Patricia Anstett, January 16, 2005, Knight Ridder Newspapers)

A world of patients with spinal cord injuries is watching Erica Nader.

Her recovery may be theirs, too, someday.

Nader, 26, of Farmington Hills, Mich., was the first American to travel to Portugal, in March 2003, for experimental surgery for a spinal cord injury. [...]

In the procedure, which is performed nowhere else in the world, a team of doctors opened Nader's spinal cord to clear out any scar tissue or debris at the site of the injury.

Then, using a long tube, they took a sample of olfactory mucosal cells from the ridge inside her nose, the same cells that provide the sense of smell.

These cells are among the body's richest supply of adult stem cells and are capable of becoming any type of cell, depending on where they are implanted. In this case, these adult stem cells were to take on the job of neurons, or nerve cells, once implanted in the spinal cord at the site of an injury.

Animal studies show that the cells "express developmentally important proteins," says Dr. Steven Hinderer, specialist-in-chief at the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan in Detroit, which is collaborating with a team at Lisbon's Egas Moniz Hospital to evaluate and follow up with patients such as Erica.

And after three years, magnetic imaging resonance tests (MRIs) show that the cells indeed promote the development of new blood cells and synapses, or connections between nerve cells, says Dr. Carlos Lima, chief of the Lisbon team.

Bad enough that so many were willing to discard morality in pursuit of medical treatments, but if it turns out there are moral alternatives how do you justify yourself to yourself?

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 21, 2005 2:07 PM