The Importance Of Stem Cell Research

A physician can also recommend exercises that stretch and strengthen the muscles and surrounding tendons. Along with this, anti-inflammatory medication can be prescribed to reduce the swelling of and around the knee. For the more serious stages of tendonitis, usually around stage three patients, a relatively new method of treatment is becoming available. The treatment includes a series of injections of platelet rich plasma to the patella region. One reason more doctors are turning towards this solution is because “injections for tendinopathy are a less invasive treatment than surgery if ‘strengthening rehabilitation’ fails” (Wiley, 2013, p. 122). This form of treatment promotes cell regeneration and the discarding of the dead or torn cells around the kneecap. Success of this treatment usually is tracked over a long term basis over about six months. Bowman et all (2013) concluded that “Treatment with autologous blood products holds many theoretical advantages, and recent basic science and clinical studies have demonstrated promising results. However, the paucity of clinical evidence combined with the potential adverse effects should caution clinicians considering the use of PRP for the management of patellar tendinitis”. The science behind the injections needs to be developed more to be an option that all doctors can turn

“Surely every medicine is an innovation, and he that will not apply new remedies, must expect new evils.”(Francis Bacon). New advances in medicine and medical technology has changed the lives of many people throughout the years. Medicine is “the science or practice of the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease”. Medical technology is “healthcare products or equipment used to treat diseases or injuries…” Medicine has been present since ancient Egypt and has developed dramatically since then. Scientists are still finding new ways to further develop medicine and medical technology. One of the latest discoveries involve stem cell research. “Stem cells are a class of undifferentiated cells that are able to differentiate into specialized cell types.” (National Institutes of Health). Stem cells could open new opportunities in making new medicines and remedies to diseases such as: Cancer, diabetes, spinal cord injuries, and Alzheimer's disease. This could be a window of opportunity for the future.

As people in the world live longer as a result of advances in medicine and technology, more and more people are suffering from osteoarthritis, especially in the knee. Osteoarthritis in the degeneration of cartilage, which causes chronic pain and disability. Today, around 10-15% of people over the age of 60 suffer from osteoarthritis, and by 2050, it is estimated that greater than 20 percent of the total world population will experience OA (Kong et al). Today’s there are a number of treatments, many of which have serious complications or do not fix the problem. Typically for severe cases of osteoarthritis, total knee replacement surgery is the accepted treatment, however as many as 20 percent of patients still experience pain or other complications post-surgery (Freitag et al). The use of regenerative methods such as the use of mesenchymal stem cells could provide an better alternative to this procedure. Mesenchymal stem cells are found in bone marrow as well as other sources such as umbilical cord blood, adipose tissue, and muscle, and are multipotent, meaning they can differentiate into multiple tissues including cartilage, bone, and fat. Mesenchymal stem cell therapy is the future in treating osteoarthritis in the knee because it produces real cartilage, effectively reduces pain and is safe.

In new research, doctors note that Mesenchymal stem cells are known to have a potential for articular cartilage regeneration. Now doctors have found that for the treatment of generalized cartilage loss in osteoarthritis, an alternative delivery strategy would be more appropriate and that is injection therapy. For those of us affected by osteoarthritis we know the impact it can have on quality of life. The research surrounding an effective treatment for osteoarthritis has yet to find an approved pharmacological intervention, biologic therapy or procedure that prevents the progressive destruction of the osteoarthritis joint. Stem cell injections for osteoarthritis can help maintenance

The topic of stem cells is a controversial one that many do not want to talk about, but perhaps stem cells could help in the treatment of

Amniotic stem cell therapy is quickly getting popular among people because it has the ability to resolve a lot of problems that occur due to old age and the overuse of muscles, bones and ligaments. The wonderful elements in the amniotic fluid such as growth factors as well as the stem cells are excellent at repairing most orthopedic symptoms such as those experienced by arthritis patients.

Furthermore, stem cells can be useful for treating many diseases because of their wide variety of use. They are taken from a healthy part of the body, such as an organ or bone, and then replaced into a patient’s damaged body part. The healthy cells

OAI clinical trial has about 5000 participants with clinically significant knee OA or having risk of developing one. OAI has made the trial data available on website and it can be accessed by accepting data use agreement. OAI aims at multiplying scientific research contributions by providing study data to OA research community. The primary aim of OAI is to prevent knee OA patients from pain and disability of knee. Dataset provides number of data files with information about biomarkers, subject characteristics, joint symptoms, medical history, medications etc.

Stem cell therapy for curing arthritis has already been tested on animals and has been extremely successful. Doctors are now using it to treat arthritis in humans. The biggest advantage of stem cell therapy is that unlike in surgery; this procedure can be conducted within a day and there is minimal downtime. Patients can return to work within just a day or two and they are saved from taking so many leaves from work. Surgery comes with an increased risk of getting infected and in case of stem cells; patients really don’t have to

Does Intra-Articular Platelet Rich Plasma Injection Improve Function, Pain and Quality of Life in Patients with Osteoarthritis of the Knee? A Randomized Clinical Trial17

In the early 20th century a Russian American named Alexander A. Maximow, established the theory that every cell comes from a precursor cell. Maximow was deeply involved in histology, the study of plant and animal tissue. Being the first to show that blood cells come from a common precursor cell, he is given the most credit in discovering what is known as stem cells (source #7). Stem cells have the ability to change into other cells such as blood, bone, tissue, and muscle cells. Researchers are trying to better understand these foundation cells to create cures and treatments for diseases and injuries. The report will be based on two articles. The next point will evaluate each source. Afterwards, the following information will

Supporters of this argument assert that stem cell research can lead to discovering of many advanced cell-based treatments and have many medical applications. Stem cells can be cultured and transplanted into damaged body part for the regeneration of healthy tissue (Stöppler, 2014). Based on the some of the successful outcomes of the research, hematopoietic stem cell transplants (commonly known as a bone marrow transplant) are currently be used to treat patients with blood disorders and some solid tumours (Stem Cell Network, 2013). Hence, it is believed that, more life-saving treatments will be inventing in the near future with the

The question then is how successful is stem cell therapy? As for any medical procedure, the term "success" must be defined. Is it relief of pain, delay of joint replacement, improvement in cartilage growth, patient satisfaction, enhanced functional capacity, or a combination of the above?

We've known for some time that bone-marrow stem cells can make more blood, but now we know that these adult stem cells can also make bone, muscle, cartilage, heart tissue, liver, and even brain. Interestingly enough, we now know that our brain contains stem cells which can be stimulated to make more neurons, or to take up different job descriptions as muscle or blood. Bone marrow and cord blood are already successfully being used clinically, while clinical use of embryonic stem cells is years away. Current clinical applications of adult stem cells include treatments for cancer, arthritis, lupus, and making new corneas, to name a few.

On January 8th, 2016, Athersys, a clinical stage biotechnology company, extracted stem cells from adult bone marrow donors. "The stem cells caused less injury of the tissue and enhanced the healing process more quickly," says Athersys Vice President of Regenerative Medicine, Dr. Robert Mays. A recent study on lab animals proved that stem cells can benefit the patients who had suffered a spinal cord injury. “The animals were able to more freely walk around their cages and had a return of bladder function," says Athersys scientist, Dr. Sarah Busch. Furthermore, they also restore the nerve cells that have died as a consequence of the injury. They can also guard the cells at the injury site from further damage by discharging protective substances such as growth factors. Lastly, they can preclude the spread of the injury that can occur after injury. We can use this new innovation to reduce the amount of people who are sitting on a wheel chair as a result of this