Stroke patients being treated by stem cells in PISCES have shown promising effects, which can be a hint for a better future treatment for stroke patients.

The PISCES trial study is a controversial stem cell treatment because the genetically engineered neural stem cells used for the study originated nearly ten years ago from the tissue of a twelve-week-old fetus. These stem cells have been named ReN001.

For the study trial, researchers treated twelve men all over the age of sixty who have moderate to severe neurological impairments resulting from strokes with four different doses of the controversial stem cell treatment.

So far, five of the six men have shown some promising improvements from the stem cell treatment with no debilitating side effects, either from the stem cells or from the rejection. The other six men will begin treatments with higher doses of stem cells in the coming months.