From the San Jose Mercury News, September 21, 2011:
A Stanford researcher has injected 2 million human embryonic stem cells into the spinal cord of a paralyzed patient at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, marking the first West Coast effort to test the potential therapy. The experiment, announced Tuesday, is designed only to test safety, but doctors will also note whether it improves sensation or helps the patient regain movement.
From the San Francisco Chronicle, September 21, 2011:
A Bay Area patient who recently suffered a serious spinal cord injury and is now paralyzed from the waist down joined the world's first-ever embryonic stem cell study in humans last week, when Stanford doctors injected 2 million cells designed to replace damaged neurons in the patient's spine.
The patient, who is not being identified, is the fourth person to be enrolled in the clinical trial being run by Menlo Park's Geron Corp. and the first person in California. The patient, whose participation in the trial was revealed Tuesday, received the stem cell injection Saturday at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and is now at the rehabilitation center there.
The study is not meant to determine whether the stem cells can cure or even improve the patients' condition, but to find out if the treatment itself is safe. Researchers will be monitoring patients over the following months and years to look for side effects, including possible benign tumor growth if the stem cells start to replicate, or adverse immune reactions.
