Stem Cells for Arthritis: New Studies Showing its Effectiveness.
Stem cell treatments have been shown on animal models to be a potential new powerful and effective treatment for arthritis. Now, more and more studies are showing the same in humans.
Two new studies were recently published showing good results when using stem cell injections to treat patients with arthritis of the lower limbs.
The first study (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23460335) came from South Korea and looked at arthritis of the ankle. The authors treated 65 patients and divided them into 2 groups. One group received conventional treatment of arthroscopic bone marrow stimulation, while the other group received the same treatment with addition of mesenchymal stem cells. The group receiving the stem cells had significantly better results.
The second study (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23680930) came from Spain and looked at arthritis of the knee. This was a study of 12 patients with osteoarthritis of the knee that failed to respond to other treatments. Patients received injections of mesenchymal stem cells into the knee joint and were followed for a year. Not only did the patients report an increase in function from 65-78%, but 11 out of 12 patients also showed improvement of the articular cartilage on MRI scans.
These are small studies, but they are part of the growing body of medical evidence showing that stem cell treatment is an effective, safe, and cost-saving therapeutic option in the management of chronic arthritis. Expect to see more studies like these in the near future.
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