Originally published February 7 2006
British doctors use stem cells to replace and repair damaged cartilage
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The Herald has published an article concerning the new treatment of damaged articular cartilage, which involves the harvesting and implantation of stem cells grown in a lab from the patient's own cells.
It progressively grew worse and, eventually, got so bad he had to give up the game he loved.
Now aged 23, Perks has just taken part in a trial for a radical new technique in which patients with injuries to the cartilage in their knee joints are injected with new cartilage grown from their own stem cells.
At the moment, it is available only to relatively young, otherwise fit people, whose knee joints have been damaged, usually from a sports injury or accident.
Tom Perks is one of increasing numbers of people in Britain who have undergone autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI).
Three or four weeks later they are re-implanted in the damaged area, where they are held in place by a patch either taken from the membrane covering the shin bone or by a manufactured collagen patch.
Articular cartilage is a tough, smooth, elastic tissue which covers the ends of bones that form joints.
Damaged articular cartilage in knees can cause the joint to be painful, swollen and difficult to move, restricting once-swift athletes to a hobble.
A line-up of foot-ballers' knees is testament to how much damage contact sports can do to the delicate engineering of the knee joint.
Unlike skin, cartilage does not have the ability to repair itself.
Any repair tissue that does form is not like the original cartilage and doesn't work very well.
Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley is conducting a trial of ACI along with 14 other hospitals in the UK and two in Norway.
Dr Heather Smith, the trial manager, based at the orthopaedic hospital in Oswestry, Shropshire, has so far recruited 60 patients for the trial as opposed to more traditional treatments.
All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing LLC takes sole responsibility for all content. Truth Publishing sells no hard products and earns no money from the recommendation of products. NaturalNews.com is presented for educational and commentary purposes only and should not be construed as professional advice from any licensed practitioner. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. For the full terms of usage of this material, visit www.NaturalNews.com/terms.shtml