Sunday 25 August 2019

Facts About Cell Therapy For Spinal Cord Injury

A spinal cord is a bundle of nerves, made up of millions of nerve cells that carries the needed nerve reflexes, to and fro, from the brain to various
parts of the body. The brain and the spinal cord together form the central nervous system. Damage to the spine or a spinal cord injury affects
the normal motor and sensory skills and also harm the nerves that control involuntary functions, like blood pressure and temperature sensory
regulation. Traumatic injury to the vertebra needs immediate spinal cord injury treatment.  
The spinal cord begins from the base of the brain (foramen magnum), runs down the middle of the back, to end at the first or second lumbar
vertebrae just near the waist. It is encased by the hard vertebrae of the spinal column and consists of a spinal motor and sensory nerve fibers.
An injury to the spinal cord ends in an inability to move, stand, sit, run, etc.  
For a spinal cord injury, cell treatment is a natural way of treating the patient with his own (autologous) bone marrow-derived cells.
The recovery of the patient depends on the severity of the injury. Those with complete spinal cord injury, there is a total lack of sensory
and motor function. This needs rigorous rehabilitation therapies to regain some of the lost function below the level of injury. However,
in an incomplete injury, the ability of the spinal cord to transmit messages from the brain to the parts of the body is not completely lost.
After spinal cord injury treatment with stem cells, the patient shows signs of improvement within a few months and is able to move
independently or with assistive devices.  
Cell therapy is the transplantation of treated stem cells to replace/repair damaged cells and tissue. With the ability to differentiate into
multiple types of cells, mesenchymal stem cells derived from the patient’s bone marrow is a preferred stem type used for treating patients
with spinal cord injuries. 
At Neurogen hospital, the treatment protocol for spinal cord injury treatment does not involve major surgery. It is just the extraction of the
bone marrow from the patient's own hip bone; the separation of the tissue using density gradient centrifugation procedure, and the infusion
of the treated stem cells into the spinal area of the patient. 
For spinal cord injury cell treatment and various rehabilitation programs that include occupational therapy, physical therapy, etc., are also prescribed by the doctors.