Stem Cell Based Regenerative Medicine: What is Science? What is Fiction? And what is Science Fiction?

Stem Cell Based Regenerative Medicine: What is Science? What is Fiction? And what is Science Fiction?

There is perhaps not a topic in medicine that causes as much excitement and controversy as the field of stem cell based regenerative medicine. Experienced researchers, politicians, and sports celebrities all have professed the various benefits of this emerging technology. Those in the media and even certain healthcare professionals have recently touted these new practices as a panacea for human disease and suffering. Desperate patients suffering from a wide spectrum of maladies, from spinal cord injury to Parkinson’s disease, have sought such treatments as “medical tourists” to countries such as China, South Korea, and Mexico. Such promise has even led to the formation of clinics like the California Stem Cell Treatment Center in Beverly Hills which offers care for people suffering from diseases that may be alleviated by access to adult stem cell-based regenerative medicine