One Day MD | Evidence-Based Wellness

Chris Centeno, MD - I have gotten many emails through the years from patients who know someone who has a spinal cord injury (SCI) and who ask if we could help. My answer has always been the same. We only treat orthopedic injuries. However, a study on stem cells and spinal cord injury was just published in February that’s worth sharing. In addition, the field of using stem cells for SCI is maturing. Let’s dig in. Spinal Cord Injury We all have a spinal cord that runs through our vertebrae that can be injured in a traumatic event. When that happens, the patient can lose various amounts of sensation or motor function below the injury. If that injury is in the neck, then they can lose arm, trunk, and leg function. If that injury is in the low back or upper back, they usually lose either trunk and leg function or just the legs. The reason why this issue is so hard to treat is that the spinal cord forms a scar that prevents nerve cells from regrowing and reconnecting. Hence, researchers have...

In recent years,  stem cell therapy  has gained popularity as a promising complementary treatment option for spinal cord injury. However, there is also a lot of confusion due to the overwhelming mixing of credible scientific information and marketing hypes available on the internet. Stem cells have been used extensively for many proven indications like leukemias or genetic disorders like thalassaemia. Bone marrow haematopoietic stem cell (HSCs) transplants have more than 35 years of patient applications in blood diseases and cancer. Due to its potential, stem cell therapy has also been repurposed into newer indications such as neurological disorders. A key issue in the treatment of neurologic diseases is that injurious processes are often irreversible because nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are unable to spontaneously regenerate. However, neural plasticity has been observed experimentally in both global and focal brain ischaemia in animal models ( Neurol India. 20...

Stem cells have been used extensively for many proven indications like leukemias or genetic disorders like thalassaemia. Bone marrow haematopoietic stem cell (HSCs) transplants have more than 35 years of patient applications in blood diseases and cancer. Due to its potential, stem cell therapy has also been repurposed into newer indications such as neurological disorders. A key issue in the treatment of neurologic diseases is that injurious processes are often irreversible because nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are unable to spontaneously regenerate. However, neural plasticity has been observed experimentally in both global and focal brain ischaemia in animal models ( Neurol India. 2009 ). Whether neurogenesis increases in response to brain and neural lesions or stem cells can be used for transplantation are the potential questions to be answered. Methods  Literature were searched through electronic databases which included PubMed.gov and ClinicalTrials.gov. Th...