Hepatitis B and C are among the top ten causes of death worldwide, and are among the leading infectious diseases in the world. The viral infections cause severe damage to liver tissues and are often precursors to chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and liver cancer. The pernicious disease can be difficult to treat because it damages the cells in the liver that are responsible for regeneration of liver tissue. Stem cell therapy can be a powerful ally in the fight to heal the liver and may even reverse the ravages of chronic hepatitis.
The Numbers for Hepatitis
Hepatitis B or C infect about 8% of the world’s population. In 85% of infected patients, the acute phase becomes chronic hepatitis. Twenty percent of those with chronic hepatitis eventually develop cirrhosis of the liver, and 5% eventually develop liver cancer.
What Happens in Hepatitis
Hepatitis damages the cells of the liver, sometimes causing lesions. When those lesions “heal,” the hepatic tissues are replaced with scar tissue – that is, instead of liver cells, which are capable of regeneration and which actually perform the functions of the liver, the liver “repairs” itself with scar tissue, which has none of those qualities. The longer the liver functions at reduced capacity, the more damaged it will become, until it can no longer filter out the toxins that are part of the digestive process. The symptoms of hepatitis include fatigue, jaundice, skin itching, menstrual irregularities and lack of libido.
Treatment Options
Traditional therapies for hepatitis don’t recover the damaged tissues. They alleviate symptoms and can assist the function of the remaining healthy liver cells. Stem cell therapies, on the other hand, focus on generating healthy cells to replace those that have been damaged by the disease and on improving and strengthening the body’s immune system. Treatment with stem cells, generally drawn from the patient’s own body or from cord blood, prompts the body to step up its own production of stem cells, which can find the damaged areas of liver and go to work replacing the damaged tissues with new, healthy liver cells.
The results of stem cell treatments for hepatitis vary and are largely dependent upon the stage of the disease and the overall health of the patient. Generally, the best prospects for completely successful stem cell treatment are those who seek treatment early, before there are serious complications from the hepatitis. The sooner a patient seeks treatment, the more successful that treatment is likely to be.