Doctors have carried out the world’s first transplant of adult stem cells into an orthopaedic patient who suffered from a non-healing broken femur. Such a treatment has considerable advantages over the standard bone graft, which involves a separate incision, taking a large amount of bone marrow from the patient’s hip which can be painful and result in infection and risks further complications and could benefit millions of patients worldwide who suffer from non-healing bone fractures and avoid the associated costs.
The Director of Orthopaedics at the hospital, Mr Richard de Steiger, said that adult stem cell implants could “significantly reduce or eliminate long-term patient complications while decreasing length of stay in hospital and costs associated with the treatment of long bone fractures”. The patient is expected to leave hospital soon.
The adult stem cell treatment performed on 31st March is part of a clinical trial involving 10 patients independently assessing the use of adult stem cells in the treatment of patients suffering non-healing of bone fractures, pioneered by Australian company, Mesoblast Limited.
Medical Procedure News 19-Apr-2006
