Mr. Dong is a Chinese 24 years old male patient suffering from spinal cord injury. He happened to be injured to his head, face, neck by falling walls in 2005. MRI of his spinal cord before the stem cell implantation showed: C3-C7 spinal cord disconnected and liquefied. He was given the first stem cell treatment and almost 1 year rehabilitation therapy.

This patient’s story is edited and produced into a short film, which is published on a TV programme, named “Approaching science” of CCTV channel and can be watched globally.

Before the stem cell treatment:

1. The motor function: the muscle volume of his upper limbs was atrophy, he only could lift up his left upper limb a little but not lift high, his fingers could not move with claw appearance; his right upper limb could not lift up completely, the movement range on bed level was very limited, his wrist could not turn over, his fingers could not move completely with claw appearance; his lower limbs were palsy without voluntary movement;
2. Sensation function: the sensation beneath 3 cm above nipple level was lost; he could not perceive the urination and bowl movement;
3. The muscular tension: the muscular tension of his upper limbs was high with stiffness; his lower limbs were in the bending and contracture status; his right lower limb could stretch with outside force, his left lower limb could not stretch out, but his right lower limb curled up to original bending status soon, which could not be controlled completely; the muscular tension of his lower limbs would increase, his lower limbs closed tightly, could not be separated if given outside stimulation;
4. The neural reflex: the bilateral abdominal reflex was disappeared;
5. Sweating and urination and bowl movement: it could sweat on the top of 3cm above nipple level of his front chest, the rest of his body lost sweating function, the body temperature adjustment function was poor; he has no perceiving of bowl movement and incontinence of urination.

16 days after the stem cell treatment:

1. The motor function improvements: his left upper limb can lift up, the flexibility of his wrists is better, but he still can not move or bear load; the muscle tendon contraction of his right upper limb can be seen, his wrists can turn over, but his right upper limb still can not be lift up or move on the bed level or bear load;
2. The muscular tension: the muscular tension of his fingers and lower limbs are improved obviously, his lower limbs can stretch straight in stationary status with outside helps;
3. The sensation function: the pain feeling level of his right side is lowered to right costal arch, the touching feeling level of his right side is lowered to navel level; the pain feeling level of his left side is lowered to 2cm beneath the left costal arch;
4. The sweating function: the sweating level is lowered to his touching feeling level;
5. The neural reflex: his left disappeared abdominal reflex is elicited, but the right abdominal reflex is not restored.

The 44th day after the stem cell treatment:

1. The motor function: the muscle volume of his left upper limb is harvester than before, he can lift up his left upper limb higher than before, up to his mouth level; the flexibility of his wrists is better than before, he can lift up 2kg dumbbell, he can lift up his left limb 40-50 times; the muscle tendon contraction of his right upper limb can be seen, the right wrist can turn over more flexibly than before;
2. The muscular tension: the muscular tension of his fingers and lower limbs is improved obviously, his lower limbs can be stretched straight in stationary status with outside help;
3. The sensation function: his left pain feeling is lowered to 2cm beneath left costal arch, the touching feeling level is lowered to anterior superior iliac spine level;
4. The sweating function: his sweating level is lowered to his hip;
5. The neural reflex: his bilateral abdominal reflex can be elicited.

Mr. Dong was confident to come to our hospital for the 2nd treatment on May 28th, 2007, he received the stem cell implantations via stereotactic brain surgery on June 8th, 2007 and via intraspinal injection following CT guideline on June 24th, 2007.

After the 2nd round stem cell treatment:

1. The muscle strength of his upper limbs is improved obviously, his right upper limb can be lifted up and move, his left wrist can turn inside and outside (he used to turn his left wrist inside only), the thumb of his left hand can bend slightly;
2. The muscle strength of his waist is improved obviously, he can stand for over 1 hour with his family members’ assistant and wearing the brace, he can stand by himself with his left hand holding the bedside (he could not stand by himself previously);
3. The sensation level is lowered to his navel, he used to have sensation of cold, hot only above his clavicle level, now which is lowered to xiphoid level of his front chest, the back sensation is lowered to his hip;
4. The sweating function is restored normally;
5. His urination and bowl movement condition: he can perceive his urination and bowl movement, he can perceive the contraction of his sphincter when he can use his abdominal muscle for his bowl movement; he can keep to control his urination for over 1 minute before releasing, the volume of his urination is increased, the volume of his bladder is increased than before, he used to urinate in any time, now he can urinate in the morning, noon and evening/day;
6. The muscle volume of his upper limbs and chest is harvest, his weight is increased by 5kg than before;
7. The erection of his penis is restored partly.

Mr. Dong’s current medical condition in February, 2008:

1. He can stand stably by himself for longer period;
2. He can sit by himself on bedside, he can cross his legs independently on bed for over 1 hour;
3. The muscular tension of his lower limbs is improved further, the flexibility of his lower limbs on lying by back is better;
4. The spasm of his limbs is reduced obviously.

Mr. Dong’s current medical condition in January, 2009:

1. The muscle strength of his waist and lower limbs is improved obviously, he can stand for longer period by brace, around 10 minutes;
2. His urination and bowl movement are excreted more easily.

Mr. Dong’s current medical condition in 2010:

1. The muscle strength of his upper limbs is improved obviously, he can pull 5kg heavy object;
2. The flexibility of his upper limbs is increased obviously, he can play and type on computer;
3. The muscular tension of his whole body is reduced further, the flexibility of his lower limbs on lying is better, he can stand independently for longer period;
4. The spasm of his limbs is reduced further.

More detailed stories about Dong Chuan’s treatment (click here)

The Reborn of Broken Neck

Mr. Dong Chuan was accidentally injured in 2005. His head and neck were compressed into the chest. The comminuted fracture of the cervical spine directly cut off the nerve bundle in the spinal cord, which resulted to high paraplegia. After injury, Mr. Dong cannot feel anything below neck. He can‘t sweat and lost the thermoregulatory function. The body temperature often climbed to 41 C. His lung function was also affected, causing respiratory infections and incontinence. In this world, the most difficult thing is not how to cross the moment of the birth and death, but to live again after death. His body became completely strange. He wants to drink water, but he can’t lift his fingers. He wants to turn over, but his legs can‘t be picked up, and all the organs were no longer listening to him. In desperation, Mr. Dong ‘s parents learned that the General hospital of Chinese People’s Armed Police Forces  had a magical treatment for the sequela of spinal cord injury-Stem cell transplantation. In July 2006, under the escort of military medical staff, Mr. Dong was sent to the Stem Cell Transplantation Department in Beijing. 　　

On the day of admission, our experts led a medical group to conduct a detailed examination and analysis of Mr. Dong conditions, and repeatedly revised his treatment plan. Conventional stem cell transplantation is performed by lumbar puncture. However, experts found in the examination that Mr. Dong’s cervical vertebrae 3-7 comminuted fracture, liquefaction and meningeal damage caused spinal canal adhesion and stenosis. So the protein content in cerebrospinal fluid had reached ten times compared with the normal value. This indicates that Mr. Dong’s spinal canal was completely unobstructed, and it was difficult for the stem cells to move up and down in the spinal canal after transplantation. So as to achieve the purpose of active repairing damaged cells. expert decided to try a new intervention point. After repeated argumentation, with the assistance of the assistant, our experts cut directly from the damaged cervical vertebrae to relieve the obstructed spinal canal, which could loosen the severely attached nerve roots. After that, our experts injected 4 units of stem cells into the upper and lower ends of the damaged spinal cord. After the transplantation Mr. Dong’s body changed a little bit. On the second day, his parents found Mr. Dong’s double fists could be smoothed open when massaged him. On the 16th day, Mr. Dong’s wrist can be turned over, and the body above the navel can sweat On the 44th day, his left upper limb can lift 4kgs of dumbbells about 40 to 50 times for one time. His hip also could sweat normally. Mr. Dong’s parents were moved to tears and hugged together along with his body changing a little bit magically.

Our experts spent a lot of time studying Mr. Dong’s treatment plan. Since Mr. Dong’s cervical pith was implanted with a steel plate, in order to minimize the trauma of stem cell transplantation but with best improvements, our experts decided to design a minimally invasive transplantation technique for Mr. Dong. At the end of May 2007, Mr. Dong received the second course of stem cell transplantation. In this course, our experts decided to indirectly repair the injured nerve in the lower part by nutritionally repairing the upper nerve. This time, our experts decided to transplant the stem cells directly into the inner capsule of the brain tissue. During the operation, Mr. Dong’s head was fixed with a semi-circular metal bracket. The CT imaging system slowly swept through the head of Dong Chuan, accurately calibrating the orientation of the brain tissue through stereotactic orientation, and guiding the accurate injection of stem cells. After an hour, the operation was successfully completed. After the operation, Mr. Dong’s body appeared a miracle. His upper limbs gradually lifted 20kgs objects. The once-shrinking bladder gradually recovered its function, and the whole body sweating function completely returned to normal. One month later, it was enough to make people aware that Mr. Dong has been able to stand up independently under the protection of the brace! Mr. Dong became the first patient in China to stand up again.
   “I used to be a warrior. Now I am a fighter. It is my greatest happiness to feel the pain in one inch and one inch. I never wanted to be a terminally ill patient.” Mr. Dong told us. He sit in a wheelchair and slowly raised his right arm. Mr. Dong’s life was getting more and more fulfilling. After getting up every day, he asked his parents to help him with the support and practice standing on the bed. At first he stood for 5 minutes with sweat. After one month practice, he was able to stand for an hour.

In late November, our experts took bone marrow stem cells from Mr. Dong’s tibia. our experts induced and differentiated into nerve cells, which was expanded to tens of millions. The surgery adopted a new operation combining frontal puncture and lumbar puncture. The operating table was located on the most advanced 64-row CT machine. Under the guidance of the CT image, the puncture needle penetrated the skin into muscles, passing through the dura mater, and directly hitting into the spinal cord. Four units of neural stem cells were directly injected into the spinal cord to achieve a benign reconstruction of the spinal nerve structure at the injured site.

One night after the operation, Mr. Dong’s waist strength was enough to support his upper body without the aid of a brace. Two days later, Mr. Dong suddenly had a small acne on his thigh. When his mother squeezed him out, he shouted out: “it is hurt!”. His mother felt that it was really a miracle of life! A week later, Mr. Dong shyly told our experts he could feel some male function.

Every transplantation brings new hope to Mr. Dong. After the fourth transplantation, Mr. Dong was able to tap the computer keyboard with the pen tied to his hand. He often chatted with patients on the Internet and optimistically told his recovery story.        On the morning of March 2010, Mr. Dong put on a brace and with the help of his father, stepped in the corridor. He pushed the door of our experts’ office and said “Good morning”.