The spinal cord is a long, fragile, tube-like nervous structure that connects the brain with peripheral nerves. Damage to the spinal cord, by trauma or other means, consequently results in severe motor- and sensory deficits that usually lead to the inability to move and feel. Accidents are the most common cause of Spinal Cord Injury with catastrophic consequences for the life of the patient and their relatives. While conservative therapies aim to stabilize the patient, functional recovery in most cases is minimal.
Both preclinical and clinical studies have shown improved recovery of spinal cord injury patients when the therapy was combined with a suitable stem cell therapy. Our clinic provides access to the most advanced clinically available combination of stem cell therapies.
Spinal trauma can disrupt ascending and descending axonal pathways that lead to: inflammation, demyelination and loss of neural cells (neurons). Depending on the site of injury, functional disorders induced by cellular damage usually result in the inability to move, sensory loss and/or lack of autonomous nervous system control.
Fully regenerative therapies for spinal trauma do not exist yet. However, very promising results have been obtained with stem cell transplantation in patients with spinal trauma. The use of Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) in Spinal Cord Injury has been extensively reviewed. Experiments with MSCs have shown that their abilities to stimulate repair processes in spinal cord injury are due to the paracrine secretion of the stem cells. After 21 days of observations, even though the MSCs had not been incorporated into the regenerated host tissue, there was a significant improvement in functional recovery, from as early as one week after the treatment with MSCs.