Intraarterial Stem Cells in Subacute Ischemic Stroke

Stroke is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality.Acute ischemia causes irreversible damage to neurons and glial cells, leading to functional deficits and chronic sequelae with variable degrees of spontaneous recovery of function. Stem cells have been shown to enhance recovery through multiple immunomodulatory effects, neoangiogenesis and neurogenesis. We conducted a prospective randomised end observer blinded study to evaluate primarily the safety of intraarterial autologous stem cells delivered to ipsilateral middle cerebral artery in acute and subacute stroke patients (0-15 days post ictus).Secondarily we aimed to evaluate the outcome on the basis of clinical evaluation and follow up imaging