Stem Cell Researchers Investigate Replacing Bone Graft Procedures
Related News: Bone and CartilageA lecture at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons' (AAOS) Meeting, a panel of orthopaedic surgeons from the Orthopaedic Research Society (ORS) discussed a new technique to replace bone grafts.
The hope is that adult stem cell therapy for broken bones can minimize the need for the traditional "autograft" procedures in the cases of severe bone injury where patients are not healing normally.
Many patients with these kinds of severe injuries usually undergo multiple reconstructive operations that often require a bone graft, or autograft. An effective stem cell therapy offers a significantly less painful solution to treat simple and complex fractures, particularly those that require additional time to fully heal.
Matthew L. Jimenez, MD, an orthopaedic surgeon at Illinois Bone and Joint Institute, Morton Grove, Ill., is investigating adult stem cells to accelerate the healing within bones to even avoid patients further discomfort from the self-donation process.
Dr. Jimenez is using donated bone and then enriching them with a patient's own stem cells. Dr. Jimenez then replaces the injured bone with the stem cell infused bone.
"The beauty of these adult stem cells is that they can turn into almost any kind of cell, including bone cells and vascular cells," said Dr. Jimenez, one of only a handful of surgeons in the world performing the investigational surgery. "The surgeries we've conducted thus far have had promising results, and to-date, the patients are doing well."
Posted on March 23, 2006 12:00 PM