Most of us are aware of the seemingly-miraculous treatments and cures adult stem cells can provide. They have negated the necessity of embryonic stem cells – where human embryos are killed supposedly for the advancement of science.
Doctors and researchers in San Francisco are taking this new frontier to a whole other level.
Adult stem cell treatment for unborn babies.
Physicians have announced a major breakthrough treating an unborn child with her mother’s adult stem cells – a medical victory that was decades in the making.
While still in the womb, Elianna was diagnosed with alpha thalassemia major, a fatal disorder that prevents the formation of normal hemoglobin that carries oxygen to cells throughout the body. Almost five percent of the population carries the gene that causes this condition.
An ultrasound revealed life-threatening swelling, including an enlarged heart, that are sure signs of the disease. It was Elianna’s body responding to severe anemia and a lack of oxygen.
Elianna’s condition was critical, and doctors had to treat the swelling before they could give her a life-saving stem cell transplant. This was achieved through intrauterine blood transfusion beginning in the second trimester of pregnancy.
Physicians removed adult stem cells from the bone marrow of Elianna’s mother, Nichelle Obar. It was the first ever treatment of a mother’s cells given in high dose directly into the baby’s bloodstream via the umbilical vein. Delaying treatment until after the baby is born usually results in the baby’s death or serious progression of the disease.
The intrauterine transfusion enables the baby’s underdeveloped immune system to assimilate her mother’s cells without the need of anti-rejection medicines.
Indications are that Elianna was born healthy four months after receiving the stem cell transplant, and she and her parents have returned to their home in Hawaii. It’s too early to determine the degree of effectiveness of this new treatment, but doctors are encouraged that they have a viable option for treating this life-threatening illness.
The normal treatment of alpha thalassemia major is lifelong transfusions beginning in the second trimester of pregnancy. Doctors are hopeful that with the transfusion of adult stem cells, they are now able to cure the disease before birth.
If so, it may be a major advancement for treating other forms of thalassemia, sickle cell anemia and additional life-threatening genetic disorders.
This new treatment is also an advancement for the protection of unborn babies. In the past there were few treatment options, so most babies either died in the womb or were aborted.
Elianna isn’t the only miracle story resulting from adult stem cells. Watch these compelling videos and get additional information on new research.
Adult stem cells continue to provide life-affirming treatments and cures, and now they appear to be sustaining prenatal life, unlike embryonic stem cell research that intentionally kills life before birth.
For innocent human life,
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