Back to the RadioSpace™ home page
NewsDirect story topics:
Consumer, Business & General Interest
Current Events & Public Affairs
Entertainment & Sports
Health & Medicine
A New Clinical Trial Aims to Evaluate the Safety of a Child's Own Cord-Blood Stem Cells to Treat Hearing Loss
Fully produced report in:
mp3PRO format
QuickTime
(MPEG-4/AAC) format
Windows Media Audio
9.2 format
(92 seconds)
-- How Will You Use This Story? --
(OPEN):
CHILDREN'S MEMORIAL HERMANN HOSPITAL AND CORD BLOOD
REGISTRY HAVE JUST LAUNCHED THE FIRST-OF-ITS KIND, F-D-A-REGULATED
CLINICAL-TRIAL TO EVALUATE THE SAFETY OF A CHILD'S OWN CORD-BLOOD
STEM-CELLS TO TREAT HEARING-LOSS. THIS "PHASE ONE" SAFETY-TRIAL
FOLLOWS EVIDENCE FROM PUBLISHED RESEARCH IN ANIMALS THAT CORD-BLOOD
STEM-CELLS CAN HELP TO REPAIR DAMAGED CELLS IN THE INNER-EAR--AND
PROVIDE THE POTENTIAL TO RESTORE HEARING. DOCTOR JAMES
BAUMGARTNER--A PEDIATRIC-NEUROSURGEON AND GUEST
RESEARCH-COLLABORATOR OF THE TRIAL--STRESSES THE IMPORTANCE OF
HEARING FOR YOUNG CHILDREN...
(BAUMGARTNER):
"MOST PEOPLE
LEARN TO HEAR AND SPEAK BY THE TIME THEY'RE 18-MONTHS TO TWO-YEARS OF
AGE. SO, WE HAVE TO TREAT THESE CHILDREN IN THIS VERY YOUNG
AGE-RANGE, BECAUSE THAT'S THE AGE-RANGE WHEN MOST PEOPLE LEARN HOW TO
SPEAK--AND THAT'S THE AGE-RANGE WHERE [SIC] YOUR BRAIN IS
PREPROGRAMMED TO DEVELOP THOSE SKILLS."
(BRIDGE):
WITH MORE INFANTS SURVIVING PREMATURE-BIRTH, PHYSICIANS AND
RESEARCHERS ARE SEEING A RISING NUMBER OF VERY YOUNG CHILDREN WITH
SIGNIFICANT HEARING-LOSS. MOST OF THE TIME, SENSORINEURAL
HEARING-LOSS CANNOT BE MEDICALLY OR SURGICALLY CORRECTED. CURRENT
INTERVENTIONS--LIKE HEARING-AIDS OR COCHLEAR-IMPLANTS--ARE DESIGNED TO
ENHANCE THE DIMINISHED FUNCTION OF THE INJURED TISSUE...
(BAUMGARTNER):
"WHAT MAKES
THIS TRIAL UNIQUE AND EXCITING, TO ME, IS THAT IT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO
REPAIR A DAMAGED 'ORGAN OF CORTI'--AND TO REVERSE HEARING-LOSS.
THERE'S AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF WORK TO BE DONE--AND A LOT OF EVALUATION,
AND RE-EVALUATION, OF THESE CHILDREN--BEFORE WE CAN BEGIN TO MAKE THAT
CLAIM. BUT, THAT'S WHAT WE'RE HOPING TO ACHIEVE."
(CLOSE):
FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT
"CORD-BLOOD"-DOT-COM.
