Havana, 7 mar (EFE).-some 3,700 patients have received in Cuba stem cell treatments since the beginning to apply this therapy eight years ago, according to data released today by the official newspaper Granma.

El 63 per cent of these patients suffered from severe ischemia of lower limbs and other ailments of the specialty of Angiology (study of the vessels of the circulatory system and the lymphatic system), which did not respond to conventional therapies.

According to the Coordinator of the national group of regenerative medicine, Porfirio Hernández, studies for the application of stem cell treatments are already performed in ten provinces of the country and Havana takes the lead with 1,564 aided cases.

After the Angiology, the largest number of patients treated with this regenerative cell therapy is situated in the fields of Orthopaedics and Traumatology the.

Porfirio Hernández pointed out to Granma that the use of this therapy still in clinical trial stage and apply “strict” selection criteria, although the results are similar to those obtained in developed countries and “promising”.

In the majority of patients have been avoiding some kind of major amputation.

Research on the potential of stem cells began in Cuba in 2003 and the cell therapy to other tissue regeneration began to apply in 2004, first in the specialty of Angiology and later heart disease. EFE