Stem Cell Approach Sheds New Light over Hip Replacement Operation

Hip replacements for some patients could become obsolete after surgeons initiated a new stem cell procedure to wrestle a bone disease that leads to arthritis, medical experts say.


Surgeons at Southampton General Hospital are taking out stem cells from the bone marrow of patients in need of hip repair due to osteonecrosis, a disorder where poor blood supply causes substantial bone impairment leading to severe arthritis.


This discovery looks promising. It will definitely help patients without the complications that a traditional hip replacement surgery may bring about. Just like the case of Stryker hip device recall. There were numerous complaints from its users such as swelling, pain, and metal toxicity among others.


These cells are combined with cleaned, crushed bone from another patient who has had their own hip replaced and used to fill the hole made by surgeons after dead and injured tissue has been detached from the joint.


The method has been developed by Doug Dunlop, a consultant orthopedic surgeon at Southampton General Hospital, and Professor Richard Oreffo, an expert in musculoskeletal science at the University of Southampton.


"Although this work is still ongoing, several patients who have had the procedure have reacted very well and, if we get the results we are hoping for, these patients won't need to have their hip joints replaced - they should be fixed completely," as stated by Mr Dunlop.


"By using stem cells to send out chemical signals to blood vessels, we hope the body will continue to create new vessels in the hip which supply enough nutrients to maintain bone strength," says Prof. Oreffo.


Cases of osteonecrosis intensifies in the United Kingdom, with around 4,000 cases each year but it is much more prevalent in Asia where it is the most common form of arthritis of the hip, the hospital said.


It is one of the three main causes of arthritis together with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Also it may be treated with medicines to help avoid arthritis and usually attacks between 30 and 50 years of age.