Are you or a loved one interested in receiving stem cell treatment? For free information, please fill out our
treatment form or email me don@repairstemcells.org and just put TREATMENT in the subject box and the MEDICAL CONDITION in the message.
Ask and thou shalt receive. I asked Dr.
Carlos Lima, the pioneer of Adult Stem Cell research and treatment for spinal cord injury (SCI) and a member of the Repair Stem Cell Institute's Science Advisory Board, how exactly does he treat (and help!) his patients- (see his patients
here and
here.) I thought I could learn something more about his Adult Stem Cell treatment and it would also be informative for the readers of this blog who may have a spinal cord injury or may know someone who has had one. Well, I did receive- I received a detailed email from Dr. Lima giving details of his stem cell procedure for spinal cord injuries:
Surgical ProcedureSurgical intervention is performed under general anesthesia with endotracheal intubation. The patient is positioned in park benchlike position. The surgical procedure is performed in 3 steps.
In the first step, the neurosurgeons exposed the damaged spinal cord by a standard midline incision, posterior laminectomy, and opening of the dura mater. The damaged spinal cord is approached by a posterior midline myelotomy. Then scar tissue of the lesion is removed (within limits as to not harm normal cord tissue) to expose the gross viable nervous tissue in both stumps. The surgical wound is temporarily closed.
The second step is performed by the otolaryngologists. To harvest the olfactory mucosa graft, a transnasal endoscopic approach and instrumentation are used A submucoperiosteal tunnel is created in the most posteriorsuperior region of the medial (septal) side of the olfactory groove, and sufficient tissue is collected to fill the spinal cord cavity and to allow for histological and microbiological examination. Reabsorbable packing is placed in the olfactory groove to avoid postoperative nasal bleeding.
The last step involved the transplantation of the olfactory mucosa into the SCI site. Before implantation, the graft is immersed in cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF) and cut into small pieces with the surgical microscope, to increase the surface area of the grafted tissue. Meninges and the superficial tissue layers are sutured into place. Wound clips are used to close the skin. The patients are transferred to the surgical intensive care unit postoperatively.
All the best
Carlos
The patient is usually free to go home (from Portugal) within 1 week after the surgery. And the patient must then resume his/her rehabilitation 3 weeks after the surgery.
Dr. Lima treats Asia A or Asia B only with clean breaks and the break has to have occurred within the last
five 1- 10 years. If you want more information on Adult Stem Cells for Spinal Cord Injury, you can email Dr. Lima directly at
carlosvlima@sapo.pt . The Repair Stem Cell Institute also has an
Adult Stem Cell treatment for Spinal Cord Injury page with lots more information and videos.