Surgeons Using Stem Cells for Bone Fractures

I was intrigued when I saw this article, not so much by the actual announcement of the stem cell work performed, but rather exactly where the location of the hospital was and I was surprised that hospitals outside the major cities of England were also conducting stem cell therapeutic trials.

Oswestry, I found out is a small town in the county of Shropshire, off Shrewsbury on route to the Cambrian mountains near Wales. The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Oswestry does look like an excellent hospital and has a website which is very detailed. It is clear from the description of the hospital's history that pioneering new techniques and investing in research is a priority, so stem cell clinical application is certainly on their checklist.

The consultant surgeons there have been conducting clinical trials using stem cells obtained from patient's own bone marrow (autologous) to heal bone fractures which could not be successfully healed with conventional techniques using metal pins and plates. According to the report, the research trial plans to take in forty patients. Fifteen patients have since undergone the treatment and 8 out of the first 10 patients followed up are successfully healed (able to drive and return to work).

The procedure:
Surgeons harvest the stem cells from the patient's pelvic bone and multiply the stem cells for a period of 3 weeks.

Consultant surgeon Professor James Richardson said: "Things have worked out quite well. A few patients have needed other procedures, refixation for instance, but the important thing is they're healing."
Surgeons collect the stem cells in a sample of bone marrow, usually from the patient's pelvis. They are purified and then multiplied in a sterile laboratory. 3 weeks later, the surgeons have to re-expose the fracture and place the stem cells at the site. After a few months, the bone appears to regain the strength of its original structure. One of the patients, Sarah Humphreys was one of the first patients to be treated with stem cells and is now able to walk unaided.

She said: "I'm absolutely fine, the leg doesn't give me any problems at all apart from a bit of residual pain if I've been for a long walk, or been a bit more active than I would have been, but not to the extremes it was. I'm basically doing everything I was prior to the accident."

The surgeons aim to treat 40 patients in the clinical trial and due to the autologous nature of the cells, there are no chances of rejection. They are unsure as to how the stem cells transplants work (nature does in deed work in mysterious ways) but speculate that the cells may turn into bone and seal the gap, or play a role in the secretion of chemicals that kick-start the healing process.

The article states: These are experimental treatments for now. But surgeons say the results so far are so promising that stem cells are likely to be widely used on the NHS in a matter of years.


Editor's Note:
I am particularly enthused by these results as StemLife has also been obtaining positive results from patients who have had stem cells in combination with their orthopaedic procedure. We have also been working with a niche and focussed orthopaedic hospital- the Kuala Lumpur Sports Medicine Center. If you have a cartilage injury that you'd like to discuss and explore stem cells may help in its healing, please give us a call.