Cells signal halt to scientist's knee pain.
Seventy year old Londoner relieved by cell based treatment.
Case report –
Mrs. MM, a London based scientist sought treatment in Chennai for chronic thigh and knee pain. Her condition was undiagnosed at a London hospital. Even after several visits and investigations, doctors in London couldn't explain her symptoms and told her that her condition was a mystery to them. She consulted me in Chennai in late December. I diagnosed it as a combination of vascular claudication and arthritic pain. This was confirmed by further tests.
MRI showed cartilage loss under the knee cap in both knees. She was treated with medicinal signaling cells on New Year's Day. Fifteen days later, she has got relief from knee pain. She has been referred to a specialist for treatment of remnant thigh pain.
Osteo-arthritis is a chronic condition of joints where the lining cartilage gets worn out. When medicines and exercise didn't work, doctors hitherto advised joint replacement. Joint replacements are usually performed when the joint is completely worn out. However there are many people with mild and moderate osteo-arthritis. Such people stand to benefit from cell based biological treatments after proper assessment. This will delay the need for a joint replacement.
Now, biological treatments are available to treat the early stage of the disease. They are called biological as the natural joint is preserved and not replaced with metal parts. Biological treatments utilize the enormous healing power of your own cells and tissues to heal other damaged tissues. Examples are medicinal signaling cells and cell derived growth factors are used for repair. Recent research shows that it may also be possible to synthesize these potent cells by squeezing ordinary cells.
Worn out joints, tendons and ligaments can be repaired without surgery in some early cases using medicinal signaling cells. These cells are present in many locations like bone marrow, fat, teeth and joint fluid. They are harvested at the time of the intervention and processed immediately to get a concentrate of medicinal signaling cells (MSC's). In this case they were obtained from bone marrow.
Growth factors are also used to repair cartilage, tendons and ligaments. Growth factors present within blood platelets encourage a variety of tissue repair on release.
A combination of medicinal signaling cells and growth factors can repair a variety of tissues in the musculoskeletal system.
The procedure is done as a day care procedure. Pain relief is rapid. Objective evidence on MRI scans will take time to appear.
