“Latest Stem Cells News”

Dr. Robert Johnson, MD, of Neurosurgical Associates of San Antonio, is presenting at the 5th Annual Stem Cell Summit in New York on February 16, 2010. Dr. Johnson will be presenting his most recent data proving the efficacy of point of care adult stem cell therapies in spine surgery. Point of care technology utilizes the patient’s own cells derived from bone marrow to inhibit bone growth in spinal fusion procedures. Dr. Johnson believes promoting cell therapy utilizing the patient’s own cells will change the future landscape of medicine.

“The use of autologous stem cells is revolutionizing medical care in both the prevention and treatment of spinal disorders,” said Johnson.

(…) Three months ago the world’s first cosmetic stem-cell facelift was carried out on Pauline Wills, 55, an office manager from South London, by Dr Aamer Khan from the Harley Street Medical Skin Clinic. It cost £7,500, took nearly six hours under local anaesthetic and Pauline had the added bonus of losing an inch from her tummy.

And because the procedure uses the body’s own stem cells – which makes it a living tissue graft – you grow into your own facelift during the six months afterwards (…)

Stem cells are present throughout the body and one of their functions is to repair damaged tissue and regenerate muscles, nerves, blood vessels and skin cells. The body has a reserve of these cells in the bone marrow, although there are a thousand times more stem cells in our fat stores (…)

MIAMI, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Some are calling it the next big frontier in cardiac treatment — injecting stem cells to regenerate the heart. But the experimental procedure means major surgery. Doctors are opening the door for heart patients who want to test the benefits of stem cells — without an operation.

One heart attack behind him, Max Eaton is now struggling with heart failure. He’s hoping stem cells are the answer to heal his ailing heart. “I happened to run into this article, which was the second or third time I heard about this stem cell research, and decided nothing ventured, nothing gained,” Eaton told Ivanhoe.

Instead of surgery, where the chest is opened and stem cells are injected into the heart, Alan W. Helman, M.D., an interventional cardiologist at the University of Miami, delivers the cells through a catheter that’s threaded through the groin. The spiral-shaped needle at the tip is screwed into the heart.

“We can now inject the cells exactly where we want to in the inside part of the heart, and we can do it in multiple different locations,” Joshua Hare, M.D., a cardiologist at the University of Miami, told Ivanhoe.
Doctors say it’s a more efficient way of delivering stem cells (…) Now, Eaton is hoping his wager on stem cells will pay off.

Doctors say Eaton is responding well to his stem cell treatment. All of the stem cells being used in this trial are adult stem cells. Studies have shown injecting heart attack patients with adult stem cells can increase the pumping power of the heart. However, it is not an approved treatment for re-growing heart tissue.

Full-length interview with Dr. Hare

from http://ivanhoe.com/channels/p_channelstory.cfm?storyid=22514

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, known for “miracle” surgeries, has completed a medically historic procedure where doctors used stem cells taken from the fat tissue of a 14-year-old boy and combined them with growth protein and donor tissue to grow viable cheek bones in the teen.

Brad Guilkey, 15, suffers from a rare kind of genetic disorder known as Treacher Collins Syndrome, where the bones and other tissues are prevented to develop in the face (…)

The medical team implanted cadaver bone into Brad’s face in May, and then they injected his own stem cells into the donor bone to fill in the gaps (…)

from http://www.efitnessnow.com/news/2009/10/13/doctors-use-stem-cells-to-grow-bone-in-boys-cheek/

A team of John Hopkins University undergraduates say they have found a way to quickly and easily embed a person’s stem cells into surgical thread, a procedure they believe may help improve healing and prevent re-injury.
The 10 biomedical engineering students developed the procedure as part of a contest sponsored by a medical technology company trying to patent the concept as a way to help patients recover from major orthopedic injuries, such as ruptured ligaments and tendons.

“Using sutures that carry stems cells to the injury site would not change the way surgeons repair the injury,” student team leader Matt Rubashkin, who will be a senior in the fall, said in a university news release. “But we believe the stem cells will significantly speed up and improve the healing process. And because the stem cells will come from the patient, there should be no rejection problems.”

In concept, stem cells from bone marrow drawn from a patient’s hip would be quickly woven into surgical thread using the students’ machine. The stem cell thread would then be used, as in conventional surgery, to stitch the ruptured tendon or other injury. The stem cells should eventually evolve into tendon or cartilage that blends into their setting while releasing growth factor proteins that hasten healing and reduce inflammation along the way.

The students, with help from orthopedists and sponsor, Bioactive Surgical Inc. of Maryland, are testing the machine and procedure on animals. Early test results show the stem cells remaining intact and attached to the sutures.
“The students exceeded all expectations. They have probably cut at least a year off of the development time of this technology, and they are definitely advancing the science in this emerging area,” the inventor of the technology, Dr. Lew Schon, an assistant professor of orthopedic surgery in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine,said in the news release.

According to the students’ research, about 46,000 people in the United States undergo Achilles tendon repair surgery every year. The procedure and post-surgical treatment cost about $40,000, and recovery takes up to a year.
The Baltimore students have also applied for grants to study how the embedded surgical thread could be used in other orthopedic surgeries or even cardiology and obstetrics.

from ajc

“Stem cells are no longer only the future of aesthetic surgery, they are the present,” said Alessandro Gennai, an associate plastic surgeon at the European Academy of Facial Plastic Surgery (EAFPS). For the past year, Gennai has been using a modified technique used to preserve stem cells in lipofilling procedures. “I have already performed numerous operations, with excellent results and without side-effects,” said the surgeon from Bologna, “therefore I can say that lipofilling is the best solution for someone who wants to eliminate wrinkles before the summer. The procedure lasts 30 minutes, it is done under local anesthesia, recovery occurs in two to three days time, and the procedure does not have contraindications.”

Lipofilling, which can be performed alone of together with an endoscopic lifting, consists of removing adipose tissue from one part of the body with a very thin cannula to prepare it in order to avoid breaking the adipocytes, and to guarantee the preservation of the stem cells. Then, with another cannula the cells are injected into the face to restore volume and tone.
“The addition of stem cells regenerates the skin, making it more beautiful and vital, especially before the summer, the time of year when the epidermis is more stressed due to prolonged exposure to the sun,” explained Doctor Gennai. There are numerous stem cells present in adipose tissue, which are able to differentiate into adipocytes or other types of cells if necessary. About a year ago, we modified a facial transplant technique to preserve these extremely delicate cells. We avoid centrifuging and manipulating them to reduce trauma and to keep as many alive as possible.

Various studies demonstrate that these stem cells normally present in adipose tissue make lipofilling more efficient, improving the rooting of adipose tissue in the implant site and the quality of facial skin, which appears smoother, shinier, and younger. Recent studies have advanced the idea that stem cells the only cells responsible for the filling effects of the lipofilling process, and that adipocytes are reabsorbed completely.
As demonstrated by Coleman, the ‘father’ of lipofilling, adipose tissue implants, after a short while, are indistinguishable from tissue that is normally present at the site of the implant, guaranteeing a physiological result that is impossible to obtain with other fillers.