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Stem cells for chronic lumbar pain
I had 3 operations for a herniated L4 disc [one at Mayo] Now chronic lumbar pain, worsening. Seriously considering stem cell therapy for relief. 84 year old male, otherwise healthy.
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@kdks99 There has been a lot of hype about stem cells for spine issues. I met a woman who is paralyzed and wheelchair bound who went to another country and had stem cell injections that didn't change anything. There is real research going on at Mayo Clinic with Dr. Bydon, a spine neurosurgeon. He has had some success with patients with spinal cord injuries and regeneration with stem cells. One of the issues with the spinal discs is that they have no blood supply. The vessels that allowed a child's spine to grown disappear in adulthood. Bone can heal and fuse and grow more cells, but I'm not aware that a cartilage disc would have that ability at this time in medical advancement. A lot depends on blood supply in healing the body and oxygen supply is needed. The research is exciting at Mayo, and worth reading about.
https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/study-documents-safety-improvements-from-stem-cell-therapy-after-spinal-cord-injury/
https://www.mayo.edu/research/labs/neuro-informatics/overview
A discovery as significant as this should be published in a medical journal, so that would be where to search to see if real spine healing with stem cells is possible and why. There just isn't enough information, and there are a always people willing to take money to try something. Patients have hope, so they are willing to try unproven methods. There may be risks involved such as infection or a misplaced injection that causes damage. It's something to think about. I wonder what keeps a stem cell from differentiating into a cancer cell? We just don't know enough. Perhaps in the future, this information may change.
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2 ReactionsMy doc and the famous "spine expert" both said it needs to be fetal stem cells which cannot be used in the states. There is some evidence that this is effective but since research here is limited due to constraints we just don't know. https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/3/1439
I'll have a virtual meeting with a clinic in Antigua on Thursday. Depending on this discussion, I may follow through with stem cells for lumbar and right hip pain. It seems U.S. $ 26000 is the basic cost for this, plus accommodation plus flights from New Zealand in my case.
Related but not totally the same, is there anything that can help with repairing nerve damage that is causing me alot of twitching and throbbing in my legs ? I have nerve damage at s5-L1.
Thanks
Anne
@annie1 It's complicated from what I'm reading. I found this literature about regrowth of damaged nerves. I don't know if a neurologist could help.
J Pharm Bioallied Sci
. 2021 Nov 10;13(Suppl 2):S913–S916. doi: 10.4103/jpbs.jpbs_182_21
Neuroscience of Peripheral Nerve Regeneration
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8686930/
This is their conclusion.
"The regenerated PNS neurons after injury return only to suboptimal function especially the nerve trunk which is close to spinal cord and far from target organ have guarded prognosis. In nerve injury, injured neurons regenerate at rate of 1 mm/1 day, at this rate reestablishment of sensory organ innervations or functional motor unit might take many months or even years. The late reestablishment of regeneration is called chronic axotomy, which may lead to chronic muscle denervation leading to irreversible atrophy of muscles and sensory organ, causing fat tissue replacement. Another failure of functional recovery of nerve is due to regeneration of axon into different end organ and endoneurial tubes. Physical exercise has shown to improve motor recovery of transected nerve, during its repair process. Besides exercise, ascorbic acid, and neurotrophic factors have shown positive neuritic outgrowth. Mesenchymal stem cells have shown good regenerative potential, in nerve regeneration, which will be an excellent tool for the same. Combinations of new strategies such as using regenerative medicine technologies can accentuate nerve regeneration process."
Agreed. This work is valuable and I have written to Dr. Bydon [as a former patient of Mayo Clinic]
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1 ReactionThis maybe of interest and provide you with some questions to ask Dr. Brydon. Please share any information you receive as I do think some kind of stem cell intervention has enormous potential. The question is what kind and where to go?
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6719501/#:~:text=In%20addition%2C%20during%20long%2Dterm,of%20malignant%20transformation99%2C100.
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2 ReactionsThank you very much.
I await a reply from Dr Brydon which I hope will come.
@salamanca Have you had a diagnosis of the source of your pain? Is there a spine condition that may be causing the pain?
Yes, I am now 84 and have had 3 operations for a herniated disc, one in Mayo which was not successful. While the last, August 2019 was successful, I now have chronic lumbar pain increasing.
I am an active male otherwise healthy. Can walk, bike daily 30 minutes in the gym.
I am searching for resolution of pain through stem cell therapy [which I was told Mayo did not do for this when I had the hernia operation in April 2018]
Can Mayo now do this work?