ABSTRACT
Heart failure is one of the first diseases in which stem cells were used for regenerative medicine. Since 2001, many publications have shown that stem cell therapy has the potential to mitigate heart diseases, but there is no solid scientific evidence to fully support its clinical application at present. The future of regenerative medicine requires validated clinical trials with standardized platforms and transdisciplinary efforts to enable the development of safe and effective regenerative therapies to protect patients and to promote the ethical application of this new and highly promising therapy. Doctors and scientists have a responsibility to discuss with patients the current reality of regenerative therapies. They also have a responsibility to discourage the indiscriminate and commercial use of these therapies, which are sometimes based on false hopes, since their inappropriate use can harm vulnerable patients as well as research efforts. Although regenerative medicine may be the medicine of the future and might bring the hope of cure for chronic diseases, it is not yet ready for its wide clinical application.
Subject(s)
Humans , Stem Cell Transplantation/ethics , Heart Failure/therapy , Stem Cell Transplantation/trends , Regenerative Medicine/trends , Regenerative Medicine/ethicsABSTRACT
El objetivo fundamental de la medicina regenerativa es el desarrollo de nuevos métodos terapéuticos útiles para el reemplazo o reparación de tejidos, o bien para la promoción de su regeneración. Con estos métodos se han obtenido resultados muy prometedores en las alteraciones traumáticas y ortopédicas, tanto con el uso de células madre, fundamentalmente adultas, como con la utilización de plaquetas. La similitud de algunas de estas alteraciones con las atendidas por los médicos del deporte en atletas con lesiones secundarias a su entrenamiento o a su participación deportiva, ha hecho que estos procederes hayan creado buenas perspectivas en el campo de la Medicina del Deporte, pues se consideró que ellos podrían ser también de gran beneficio en el tratamiento de los deportistas lesionados. Hasta hace poco, el uso intramuscular de las plaquetas estaba totalmente prohibido por las autoridades deportivas, que consideraban este proceder una forma más de dopaje. Sin embargo, teniendo en cuenta que las inyecciones de plaquetas con fines terapéuticos no violan el espíritu del deporte, en el 2011 se eliminó esta prohibición. En la actualidad, el uso de las células madre con fines terapéuticos tampoco está incluido en la lista de prohibiciones de la Asociación Internacional Anti-Doping. Tomando en consideración estas decisiones, se estableció un convenio entre el Instituto de Medicina del Deporte y el Instituto de Hematología e Inmunología para dar los primeros pasos para la aplicación de estos novedosos métodos en la Medicina del Deporte
The main goal of regenerative medicine is the development of new therapeutic methods useful for the replacement or repair of tissues or to promote its regeneration. These methods have achieved promising results in trauma and orthopedic disorders, mainly with the use of adult stem cells, but also with the use of platelets. The similarity of some of these disorders with those seen by sports doctors in athletes with minor injuries due to their training or sports participation, have allowed these procedures to develop good perspectives in the field of sports medicine, as it was considered that they may also be of great benefit in the treatment of sports injuries. Until recently, the intramuscular use of platelets was completely forbidden by sports authorities who considered this approach another source of doping. However, taking into account that platelet injections for therapeutic purposes do not violate the spirit of sport, in 2011 the prohibition was removed. Currently, the use of stem cells for therapeutic purposes is also not included in the prohibited list of World Anti-Doping Agency. Considering these decisions, an agreement was established between the Institutes of Sports Medicine and Hematology and Immunology, in order to take the first steps to implement these new methods in Sports Medicine