Stem cell therapy combined with liposuction may help burns victims
An experimental procedure which combines stem cell therapy with liposuction could have major implications for burns victims.
The procedure has been approved in the UK and was used on Glasgow resident Lesley Kelly last year. The 45-year-old sustained third-degree burns after falling into a bath at the age of two, which left her with limited movement as a result of damage to her joints, and considerable scaring.
Last year, in a procedure that lasted just two hours, doctors used stem cells from Lesley’s fat tissue to repair the build-up of scarring around her right elbow. Liposuction was used to take fat from her waist, and after separating the fat cells from the stem and regenerative cells, they were injected into the wound on her elbow.
Within months she was able to regain a range of movements that she had lost more than 40 years earlier.
Speaking to ABC news, Kelly said: “If this technology was available earlier in my life, my scars would not have been as bad.”
Robin Robinson, director of the Washington-based Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, said the possibilities for the procedure were exciting.
“This is one of the most exciting and promising self-therapies we’ve seen in regenerative medicine,” he said.
Reference:
http://www.harleymedical.co.uk/media/2012/10/04/stem-cell-therapy-combined-with-liposuction-may-help-burns-victims/
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