Ethical aspects of the stem cells' use as healthcare technologies in personalized medicine
Objective: Stem cells could be defined as cell with an extraordinary capacity for self-renewal and the ability to differentiate into different cell types. The aim of this study is to examine students' opinion about the use of stem cells as health technologies in disease treatment and radical life extension. Method: Prospective cross-sectional study was conducted as a questionnaire, which was filled anonimly and voluntarily. Results: In this study 655 respondents have participated, with an average age 21.9±}1.8 years. High percentage distribution was concluded with most of the statements, with especially positive attitude towards the preservation of stem cells for their own treatment (84.2%), and treatment of their families (85.4%). Dominantly neutral attitude was expressed according to a statement about the reliability of stem cells and doubts about their implementation.(49.4%).There was no statistically significant difference in students' opinion between different faculties. Conclusion: It is important to evaluate students' opinion because it can obtain information on how the respondents agree with the potential implementation of health technology in the future and, accordingly, whether it is justified to continue further research. We should be more dedicated to informing students in the future, and this type of research should be implemented on a wider population to obtain the relevant results and perform more reliable conclusion.