Stem cell therapy repairs necrosis of the femoral head.
2020-07-10
Femoral head necrosis (ONFH), also known as ischemic femoral head necrosis, is a common refractory disease in orthopedics. The main cause is the destruction of the blood supply of the femoral head, which leads to the reduction of bone marrow components and the death of bone cells. Eventually, the necrosis of the femoral head collapses , Causing hip pain and reducing the patient's quality of life.
Femoral head necrosis can occur at any age, and the incidence of femoral head necrosis in my country is high and increasing year by year. According to the statistics of my country in 2017, about 8.12 million people in my country's general population aged 15 and above suffer from non-traumatic avascular necrosis. Most patients fail to take active measures in the early and middle stages, leading to the development of the disease to the end stage, which is difficult to treat.
Regarding how to repair the necrosis of the femoral head, clinical methods of hyperbaric oxygen, extracorporeal shock wave, pulsed electromagnetic field, drug treatment, acupuncture, etc. are generally used, but the treatment effect is limited. These methods can only improve the symptoms of patients and cannot be cured.
With the development of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering technology, stem cell treatment of femoral head necrosis has become a research hotspot. Stem cells are called "universal cells" in the medical world. They can migrate to damaged tissues and differentiate into specific cells in local tissues, so as to achieve the purpose of repair.
The mechanism of stem cells repairing femoral head necrosis has the following three points:
1. Differentiation into osteoblasts
Stem cells have the potential to promote osteoblast or chondrocyte differentiation. Stem cells home to the lesion and proliferate and differentiate into osteoblasts, replenish osteoblasts and fill bone defects.
2. Regulate osteoclasts
When mesenchymal stem cells are added to the conditioned medium (htROSCM) of osteoblasts, the formation of osteoclasts is inhibited. Stem cells mainly inhibit the formation of osteoclasts and reduce the number of osteoclasts through the regulation of OPG expression.
3. Secretion of growth factors to promote blood vessel formation
The basic cause of femoral head necrosis is the supply of nutritional blood vessels inside the femoral head. Stem cells can promote the regeneration of blood vessels in the necrotic area under specific conditions and provide nutrition for the ischemic necrotic area.
Stem cells have made progress in repairing femoral head necrosis. Researchers have explored the effects of stem cells in combination with other methods to treat femoral head necrosis. There are many successful clinical cases.
1. Research published in the Chinese Journal of Osteoporosis: The researchers randomly selected 40 adult rabbits to carry out platelet-rich plasma combined with mesenchymal stem cell therapy. After the study, it was found that this method had a better effect on femoral head necrosis.
2. "Chinese Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation" reported that the researchers used a combination of extracorporeal shock wave and stem cell treatment for 40 patients with femoral head necrosis, and followed them up for 12 months and 24 months. Harris in the stem cell group and the control group There was a significant difference between the score and the pain score. Patients with stem cell therapy improved significantly, their ability to live improved, and pain decreased.
In recent years, the unique characteristics of stem cells have opened up new treatments for the field of regenerative medicine and femoral head necrosis. It is believed that in the near future, stem cell treatment can be popularized to every patient and cure more patients!
