Stem cell treatment for scoliosis

[escapelina]

NEW YORK (WABC) -- There is an exciting new treatment for scoliosis that's a lot less painful.

Surgery to correct scoliosis used to mean cutting a large piece of bone from the iliac crest in the pelvis, then using it to create a spinal fusion so the curve didn't get worse.

The problem with taking bone from the iliac crest is it's a significant source of pain, sometimes even permanent pain," Dr. Flood said. "It requires another incision, potential risk of infection, and that bone is gone forever."

But Matthew was able to take advantage of a brand new therapy, recently cleared by the FDA, to repair his spine using stem cells harvested from his own bone marrow.


What do you think ? And wouldn't it be possible to rebuild the flattened vertebrae ,stabilize it with rods for some period and then remove rods from the spine? Does anyone know more about this treatment?

[green m&m]

It's one thing to use stem cells to boost bone growth to aid in fusion but a totally different thing to 'rebuild'. We are long time away from getting stem cells to rebuild a whole vertebrae or even repair a damaged one. That'd mean medical science learned how to control stem cells and their actions exactly.

[tonibunny]

Can you clarify why you think this Anna Maria?

It would be good to know your background, because otherwise people might think you're just here to spam the boards with BMW leasing info, which would be a pretty stupid thing to do because everyone here is too smart/too worried about scoliosis issues to bother with non-scoliosis links like that.

[S4Sarah]

Yeah we are not quite there yet when it comes to rebuilding the spine. Once we do get to that point arms and legs and feet and fingers probably can be rebuilt also.