subject: Cartilage Regeneration – What Type of Stem Cells Should Be Used [print this page] Cartilage Regeneration What Type of Stem Cells Should Be Used
Millions of elders throughout the globe are afflicted with Osteoarthritis, the commonest form of Arthritis. It is a shocking revelation by several surveys that the number of osteoarthritis patients will continue to go up at rapid pace. The underlying reason behind the occurrence of this disease is corrosion of the articular cartilage. This cartilage is a connective tissue, devoid of any nerve or blood vessel and is a cap on the ends of the long bones. The youngsters too fall prey to osteoarthritis due to early deterioration of cartilage. Cartilage regeneration is a way to help the patients get rid of the irritating inflammation and severe pain due to the corroded cartilage.
The symptomatic approaches to alleviate excruciating pain experienced by the osteoarthritis patients mainly include using non-steroid antiflammatory drugs, taking gluconcorticoids ( local joint injections) or intra-articular injections. These methods are no doubt helpful in lessening the suffering though the effect is experienced for a very short period of time. Moreover, they come up with some side effects too. With the passage of time, the researchers came up with modified remedial techniques but none of them successfully address the problem of cartilage corrosion. The major breakthrough in this regard is the use of stem cells for cartilage regeneration.
With the emergence of this method, several questions have popped up. The first of them is the type of the stem cells to be used for cartilage regeneration. The patients are also interested to know what sorts of risks are involved with this method and what criteria to consider when choosing a right orthopaedic surgeon, expert at cartilage regeneration. Some scientists have come up with a unique approach that adult stem cells ( pluripotent stem cells) can be used for the regeneration of cartilage. Once the adult cells are taken out, they will be reprogrammed in such a way that they will start behaving like embryonic stem cells. This approach is advantageous as these cells have every potential to be converted into any type of tissue in suitable environment. But the sad news is that we have to look forward to the distant future when this stem cells cartilage regeneration method will be applied.
So, the question is what sort of stem cell treatment for the arthritis problem is accessible by the patients at present. Recently, Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have proved to be effective in curbing the problem of inflammation as well as pain around the cartilage. These adult cells are located in the bone marrow. If these cells are successfully placed in the right location, they along with growth accelerators, derived from the platelet rich plasma can efficiently help in cartilage regeneration. The MSCs have all the makings of being some special types of tissue organs including cartilage. If this technique seems to interest you, then you may consult with an eminent orthopaedic surgeon if this method is right for you.
As no randomized and controlled but comprehensive studies have been done to find out the long term effect of this MSCs approach, therefore, it is difficult to say if such a technique is an effective mode of cartilage regeneration. Though anecdotal report is available but this is not believed to reflect the actual fact. The main considerations to undergo this process of cartilage regeneration are weight and age of a patient. Last but not the least, the experience and expertise of a doctor is an important factor for the successful outcome.
