China is going to be way ahead of us in biological treatments because they are willing to actually remove the red tape and in fact encourage scientists to try these sorts of experimental treatments. Meanwhile, we have a dinosaur FDA, a bureaucratic academia second to only Europeans.
Long ago, my next door neighbor's daughter had severe SB and was confined to a wheelchair, slow mental and emotion development, etc. Nobody thought she'd live, but in fact got to adulthood. It was basically a full-time job for her (single) mom.
My high school hosted the county's special day class for kids with severe cognitive and physical disabilities, a majority from spina bifida. If this stem cell method can actually repair the spinal cord before birth, the quality of life improvement is absolutely enormous.
Incredible to see some promising results in stem cell research. Hopefully a safe and successful application can give a boost to some other areas where stem cells might prove useful (like maybe one day we can regrow damaged heart tissue like this).
Not only is it possible, fetal surgery is more or less standard treatment for spina bifida at this point. The news here is about the stem cell patch being applied during the surgery. (I have a child with spina bifida. We tried to get her into this trial, but did not qualify.)
The CuRe Trial is exploring whether stem cells can add regenerative power to surgery, potentially improving mobility and quality of life.
“This is a major step toward a new kind of fetal therapy, one that doesn’t just repair but potentially helps heal and protect the developing spinal cord,” said Aijun Wang, co inventor of the placental-derived stem cell treatment technology and the study’s co-principal investigator [ . . . ].
Does the physical repair also help with the mental developmental effects? Children with spinal bifida often develop cognitive abilities much slower than children without it.
The main goal of physical repair of the defect in utero is actually to reduce the incidence of hydrocephalus and hindbrain herniation, which are very common in people with Spina Bifida. The existing fetal surgery reduces the incidence of hydrocephalus from about 80% to about 40%. The improvement in leg and bowel/bladder function is actually a secondary benefit.
My understanding is that the hindbrain herniation (aka Chiari Malformation Type II) is the main cause of cognitive trouble in people with SB. But it's worth noting that it's very far from universal in causing that. Most people with SB are basically normal cognitively assuming they get good early intervention (VP shunt, PT, OT, etc.). Some early cognitive development can be slower as a knock on effect of not being able to move around as much as a baby and toddler, and thus less able to explore the environment, etc.
Source: I'm the parent of a toddler with spina bifida. She's completely on track cognitively and with fine motor skills so far. She's way behind with gross motor skills due to her inability to move her legs very much.
There are people who do not want to have abortions. Either for religious reasons, because they themselves belong to a specific disability group (e.g. the blind and deaf) or because they tried hard already to get pregnant in the first place.
Especially for the latter, "make a new one" can mean a ticket reaching into the 6 figures, months of egg extractions, implantation attempts and spontaneous auto-abortions.
What a gross and idiotic take. “Just abort it”; i’m pro choice, but IMO life must be regarded as more sacred than what ‘ole tsss here considers. I can only conclude tsss has never dealt with any real loss in their life.
Long ago, my next door neighbor's daughter had severe SB and was confined to a wheelchair, slow mental and emotion development, etc. Nobody thought she'd live, but in fact got to adulthood. It was basically a full-time job for her (single) mom.
- operating in utero
- while the mother is awake
- in an outpatient/doctor's office setting
- to implant a balloon in the upper respiratory tract of a fetus with a, I believe, cleft palate so that it's lungs can develop normally.
It really is wild what modern medicine can do these days.
0 - https://www.netflix.com/title/81004466
My understanding is that the hindbrain herniation (aka Chiari Malformation Type II) is the main cause of cognitive trouble in people with SB. But it's worth noting that it's very far from universal in causing that. Most people with SB are basically normal cognitively assuming they get good early intervention (VP shunt, PT, OT, etc.). Some early cognitive development can be slower as a knock on effect of not being able to move around as much as a baby and toddler, and thus less able to explore the environment, etc.
Source: I'm the parent of a toddler with spina bifida. She's completely on track cognitively and with fine motor skills so far. She's way behind with gross motor skills due to her inability to move her legs very much.
Especially for the latter, "make a new one" can mean a ticket reaching into the 6 figures, months of egg extractions, implantation attempts and spontaneous auto-abortions.