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ALS Disease Cure: Stem Cell Injection might Save ALS Patients but 'Disappointment is Part of It', Researcher Says

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One of the many reasons why ALS disease cure has not been found is that it does not work for everyone. A new study on this neurological disease uses stem cells for ALS diseases therapy with the hope that the treatment will work safely.

ALS disease cure: the experiment using stem cell injection only finds that the procedure is safe to do

People hope that scientists would find ALS disease cure in their experiments but apparently the new procedure is only to test the safety of stem cell injections - whether injecting it into the spinal cords with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is safe or not. The research was conducted by scientists at Emory University School of Medicine and the result showed that two of 15 participants experienced painful condition after the procedure.

People begin to question the ethical perspective for the patients enrolled in the trial. However, according to Juanita Pharr from ALS Association, the stem cell studies are fair enough for the participants point of view since they already know from the very beginning - that the experiment will have risk factors. Pharr, whose father died from ALS disease, explained that ALS still has no treatment and many patients including her father, preferred to have natural death without the use of ventilator.

ALS disease cure trial and error has created medical heroes

The result of this stem cell injection study says that 'most participants fared well'; the two participants experience complications. One patient developed partial paralysis and the other one reportedly felt unbearable pain, Neurology journal reported.

Robert Goldstein from ALS Therapy Development Institute claimed that these participants are medical heroes given their selflessness when knowing the consequences. It seems that disappointment is part of the experiment because sometimes a trial treatment works on a person but does not end well for the other patient. The scientists hope that the stem cell therapeutic will work although it might take time to test. 

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