"We are now trying to create a definitive study in 20 subjects and prove that the brain death is reversible. This will open the door for future research and especially for people who lose their dear ones suddenly." The peptides will be administered into the spinal cord daily via a pump, with the stem cells given bi-weekly, over the course of a 6 week period. Dr Pastor added: "It is a long term vision of ours that a full recovery in such patients is a possibility, although that is not the focus of this first study – but it is a bridge to that eventuality." Brain stem death is when a person no longer has any brain stem functions, and has permanently lost the potential for consciousness and the capacity to breathe. A person is confirmed as being dead when their brain stem function is permanently lost. However, although brain dead humans are technically no longer alive, their bodies can often still circulate blood, digest food, excrete waste, balance hormones, grow, sexually mature, heal wounds, spike a fever, and gestate and deliver a baby. Recent studies have also suggested that some electrical activity and blood flow continues after brain cell death, just not enough to allow for the whole body to function.
A US biotechnology company has been given permission to try and bring 20 patients that have been declared clinically dead back to life, using a variety of therapies, including injecting the patient's spinal cords with stem cells. The company, Stemedica, is hoping for approval from regulators in the United States before it can begin clinical trials on its experimental treatment. but it is a bridge to that eventuality. " Experts were careful to manage expectations, saying that even if parts of the brain stem are nursed back to health with these therapies, "it's a long way from resurrecting a whole working brain, in a functional, undamaged state.”