Stem Cell Assisted Treatment

Stem cells have the potential to assist traditional treatments

Stem cells are currently used in many clinics across the world to treat a variety of conditions for which there remains no known cure.  Whilst these treatments remain a last resort for many there are an increasing number of uses for stem cells as part of more traditional treatment regimes for problems such as cartilage damage, broken bones, hair-loss, post-lumpectomy breast reconstruction, and even blindness.

For many years stem cells have been routinely used in veterinary medicine as injections at the site of broken bones or damaged ligaments to help aid healing and the knitting together of torn or fractured tissue of animals.  Legal restrictions and the complexities of stem cell science has delayed the use of stem cells to treat humans with such conditions, until now.

Stem cells are also becoming routinely used to increase the rate of fusion during spinal surgery with patients having bone taken from their iliac crest (hip) transplanted into the spine to restore intervertebral height and provide support.  During this procedure the surgeon may grind up fragments of excised bone to form a packing material containing stem cells thus promoting the growth and repair of the transplanted tissue to form a solid fusion.