Spinal Cord Injury
Spinal cord injury refers to the damage to the structure and function of the spinal cord caused by direct or indirect external factors. As an important part of the central nervous system, the spinal cord is a neural conduction pathway connecting the brain to various parts of the body, responsible for transmitting sensory and motor information. Therefore, spinal cord injury often leads to varying degrees of impairment in limb movement, sensation, reflexes, and sphincter function below the level of injury, severely affecting the patient’s quality of life and self – care ability.
Stem cell treatment for spinal cord injury is a cutting-edge treatment method that utilizes the characteristics of stem cells to promote the repair of spinal cord injuries.
The following is a detailed introduction for you:
Therapeutic principles
- Differentiation and replacement: Stem cells have the potential for multi-directional differentiation. For example, neural stem cells can differentiate into neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes, replacing the cells of the damaged spinal cord tissue and reconstructing neural pathways.
- Secretion of neurotrophic factors: Mesenchymal stem cells and other types of stem cells can secrete a variety of neurotrophic factors, such as nerve growth factor and brain-derived neurotrophic factor. These factors can promote the survival, growth, and differentiation of nerve cells, and also improve the local microenvironment of the spinal cord, providing favorable conditions for nerve regeneration.
- mmunomodulation: After spinal cord injury, a local immune inflammatory response will be triggered. Excessive inflammation will exacerbate nerve tissue damage. Mesenchymal stem cells can regulate the immune system, inhibit the infiltration of inflammatory cells and the release of inflammatory factors, reduce the inflammatory response after spinal cord injury, and protect the undamaged nerve tissue.
Since 2006, our medical team has treated more than 3,000 patients with sequela of spinal cord injury, including 1522 patients with cervical cord injury, 1233 patients with thoracic cord injury (do not include T12-L1), 226 patients with both cervical cord and thoracic cord injury, and 330 patients with thoracic and lumbar cord injury (mainly T12-L1). We invented CT-guided intraspinal injection in 2006 and stem cell transplantation via endovascular intervention in 2011 to treat sequela of spinal cord injury, which apparently improved the treatment effect.
The improvement can be seen from：
- Increase of muscle strength under the injured surface, better motor function than before.
- Lower sensory level and enhance perception.
- Abundance of atrophied muscles, increased limb muscle strength
- Reduce spasm and abnormal high muscular tension.
- Reduce neuropathic pain
- A certain degree of improvement in dysdefecation and urinate disorder which were caused by sphincter disturbances, patients will have better bowls movement than before and can be aware of and control urinating.
- mprovement in postural hypotension which was caused by damaged vegetative nerve function (especially for high-level spinal cord injury patients), and the body temperature is close to or back to normal.
- More motor flexibility and abilities.
* Improvements after stem cell treatment vary from patient to patient and we do not make any guarantees.
Cases
