Broken leg bones healed in stem cell first

[crystal sage]

http://www.theage.com.au/national/broken-l...80806-3r6e.html

NINE Victorians are among the first people in the world to have broken leg bones healed using their own stem cells.

In a pioneering trial at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, patients with serious leg fractures have regrown thigh and shin bones, recovering quickly with very little pain.

The five men and four women were involved in serious road accidents and had suffered the worst kind of fractures. Many were unable to walk and had spent up to 41 months waiting for bones to heal after surgery.

The technology allows the most severe leg breaks - which can sometimes lead to amputation - to heal more quickly. Patients in the trial found their bones had regrown within an average of four months.

Surgeons say the cutting-edge treatment could slash hospital waiting lists by reducing the need for replacements for arthritic hips. Patients who would previously have required elective surgery could be treated as outpatients.

Elite athletes such as footballers who suffer leg breaks may also benefit by cutting down recovery time.

Sydenham man Anthony Giancola had the stem cell treatment after breaking the bones in his lower leg (the tibia and fibula) in a motorbike accident on New Year's Eve 2005.

The 36-year-old's injuries were so severe that bone poked through his jeans when paramedics arrived at the scene. Up to 15% of such fractures never fully heal.

Surgeons placed a rod in his tibia to help the bone heal but a year later he was still on crutches.

Mr Giancola faced further surgery to take a bone graft from his pelvis but recovery was not guaranteed and the procedure would be painful and lengthy.

Instead he was recruited to the trial and had bone marrow stem cells harvested from his pelvis in a non-invasive day procedure using a needle.

The cells were then grown in a laboratory, reproducing countless times to create 15 billion cells in six weeks. This allowed surgeons to conduct an operation to administer the stem cells to the fracture sites, where they began to form bone. Mr Giancola was walking the following day. He is now fully recovered, pain-free and regularly runs and plays football. Continued...

http://www.stemcellnews.com/articles/stem-...bone-grafts.htm

Dr de Steiger said long bone fractures failed to heal in about 10 per cent of cases, which usually led to a bone graft.

"It has been the standard way for many years, but it does involve quite a large incision in the pelvis bone [and] it involves taking out a large amount of bone in Jamie's case," he said.

"In this situation there are risks, obviously. It's a separate incision, patients have reported ongoing pain from that incision and you have a separate risk of infection at that site."

He said the treatment could reduce hospital stays and recovery time while reducing patient discomfort.

Patients with smaller breaks may not require the scaffolding and in some cases may be able to have the stem cells injected directly into the damaged bone.

Using the patients' own stem cells eliminates the risk of rejection that can occur with cells from another donor.

The Australian company behind the stem cell development technique, Mesoblast Ltd, was involved in another world-first operation in February in which cells were injected into the hearts of two Australian men with badly blocked arteries, in the hope they grow into new heart muscles and arteries.

Preliminary results of that trial are expected in May.

http://www.eurostemcell.org/feed-item/2416

Edited August 6, 2008 by crystal sage