Spinal cord injuries occur in many ways, such as a traumatic accident or hit to the spine that results in a fracture of the vertebrae. The damage begins on impact when displaced bone fragments and ligaments tear into or bruise spinal tissue. Most spine injuries do not completely sever the spine and cause enough damage to cause fractures that can disable or destroy the axons. As the signal carriers of the human body, axons carry electric signals and act as messengers between the body and the brain. Most spinal injuries usually cause damage to some or all of the axons.
What is an Acute Spinal Cord Injury?
The spinal cord is a thick bundle of nerves designed to carry signals between the brain and the rest of the body. Acute spine injuries (SCI) usually occur after sudden and traumatic Injury. The SCI can be as minor as a contusion (bruise), a partial tear, or a complete spinal tear (transection). Spinal injuries are also more common in young adults and men.
A traumatic spinal injury can result in an instant loss of movement, touch feelings, and reduction in organ function below the damaged vertebrae. The most common areas of spinal injuries are in the cervical ( neck ) and thoracic spine areas. Spinal injuries are one of the most common causes of permanent disability and death in both children and adults.
The human spine consists of 33 vertebrae in total, including:
- 7 in the cervical spine (neck)
- 12 in the thoracic spine (upper back)
- 5 in the lumbar spine (lower back)
- 5 in the sacral area (sacrum is located in the pelvis area)
- 4 in the coccygeal (the coccyx is also located in the pelvis area)
These 33 vertebrae help form our spine and protect the spinal cord and nerve bundles. Generally speaking, the higher the spine injury, the more severe the patient’s symptoms are. Injuries to the vertebrae do not necessarily mean the spinal cord is damaged, and damage to the spinal column can occur without dislocations or breaks in the vertebrae, such as in patients with spinal inflammation caused by transverse myelitis.
1 Year After Stem Cell Therapy for Spinal Cord Injury
Spinal injuries are usually classified into two main categories:
- Complete Injuries are indicated by a total loss of sensory or motor functions below the point of Injury.
- Incomplete Injury is when the person can still relay some messages in a limited capacity.
Survivors of SCI from sports-related injuries also start suffering from other medical complications, such as chronic pain or bowel and bladder dysfunction with increased susceptibility to severe brain fog & having heart or respiratory problems. The success of any cellular treatment depends entirely on how well our doctors can manage systematic failures and chronic conditions through targeted regeneration therapy.
Using Stem Cell Therapy for Injured Spinal Cord
Cell Therapy for Spinal Cord Injuries focuses on the regeneration of Axons between your brain and body that have been severely limited or non-existent after your accident. Our Stem cell transplants for spinal cord injury help patients eliminate pain, regain bladder and bowel function, regain lost sensations, and regenerate visceral motor neurons and adult astrocytes while minimizing other issues such as cramps or depression from Injury. Conventional treatments do not address regeneration and focus on pain management, rehab, and the reduction of secondary damage.
Cell-based treatments take a more proactive approach and boost humans’ natural repair cycle by stimulating/enhancing damaged cells and tissue repair. Repairing injured spinal cord & bamboo spine requires going beyond traditional techniques to help you regain some/all of the lost functions. Clinical trials have shown that cell turnover and death are expected and occur naturally when the body’s cells are injured or aged. These dead cells are usually surrounded by healthy and damaged cells. Our treatment protocol for Sciatica and spinal stenosis helps boost the healing of these dead or injured cells through targeted cytokine therapy that uses nerve growth factors and paracrine signaling to trick the body into restarting the healing process.
Repairing (SCI) Spinal Cord Injury Damage
The Regen Center offers a unique combination protocol for the treatment of neurological & spinal cord injuries using a targeted multi-step approach. Once our medical team has reviewed the patient current medical condition and determined the appropriate course of action, a detailed plan will be provided. If the patient does not have the quality or quantity of enhanced mesenchymal stem cells, cord tissue-derived UC-MSC+ cells will be needed. These cells can be stored using our cryopreservation facility for over 20 years if required.
TREATMENT RISKS & PRECAUTIONS
Please note that not all patients are suitable candidates for treating spinal cord injuries with stem cells. Patients with complete spinal cord transection, severe nerve damage, advanced paralysis, movement disorders, or other major health complications might not be good candidates for treatment.Treatments for severe cases with extensive nerve cell atrophy require expanded UC-MSC+ mesenchymal stem cells and nerve cell growth factors injected near the damaged spinal areas via a CT-guided intra-spinal machine. The UC-MSC+ protocol for spinal cord injuries is unique as it is the only treatment in the world that offers supplemental injections with nerve cell-specific growth factors to enhance recovery further using IV drip injections, lumbar punctures, Intrathecal injections, fluoroscopy guided (in a hospital setting only) depending on the severity of the patient’s injuries or if the patient is paralyzed.
Enhanced UC-MSC+ stem cell injections are the platinum standard in modern regenerative medicine, especially when treating spinal cord transection. The precision of cellular guidance allows our team to aim directly at adjacent areas of lesions or Injury. UC-MSC+ enhanced spinal treatment does not require dangerous open spine surgeries. UC-MSC+ stem cell injections and neural progenitor cell infusions also help patients avoid the risks and pain of additional surgeries associated with traditional treatments for the injured spinal cord.[1]
The Regeneration Center Difference
Our spinal injury treatment center aims to help repair damage naturally and safely. Our treatment protocols are designed to bypass the blood-brain barrier and take place on the cellular level to affect the areas near the point of impact positively. Positive results can be dramatic if the Injury is less than two years old. For those with older injuries, traumatic brain injuries, severely degenerative spinal discs, osteonecrosis, peripheral neuropathy, or spinal muscular atrophy, the chances of full recovery become significantly more complicated over time.
Treatment Objective and Expected Outcomes
Promote Neural Regeneration:
- Stimulate the growth and repair of damaged neurons.
- Facilitate the formation of new neural connections.
Enhance Functional Recovery:
- Improve motor and sensory functions.
- Enhanced ability to perform daily activities and tasks.
- Restore voluntary muscle movements and coordination.
- Improved bladder and bowel control.
- Partial or complete restoration of motor and sensory functions below the level of Injury
- Increased mobility, possibly including improved walking ability with or without assistive devices.
Reduce Inflammation and Scar Tissue:
- Minimize secondary damage from inflammation.
- Inhibit the formation of glial scars that impede neural regeneration.
Support Implanted Cell Survival and Integration:
- Ensure transplanted stem cells’ survival and proper integration into the host spinal cord.
- Stable integration of transplanted cells without adverse effects.
- Sustained functional improvements over time.
- Promote the differentiation of stem cells into functional neural cells by using tissue-specific growth factors and peptides.
Improve Quality of Life:
- Alleviate chronic pain and other symptoms associated with spinal cord injuries.
- Enhance the overall well-being and independence of our patients.
- Increased participation in social, recreational, and vocational activities.
- Greater independence and improved emotional well-being.
- Decrease in neuropathic pain and spasticity associated with spinal cord injuries.
- Enhanced comfort and reduced reliance on pain medications.
Newer tissue, cartilage, or ligament injuries respond much better to stem cell treatments. The recovery after treatment will require a lot of dedication and rehabilitation sessions. Physical improvements occur around 2-3 months after the initial treatment, and the results are permanent.[2]
Benefits of Neural+ Cells & Neural Progenitor Cells
- Improved blood circulation “Angiogenesis”
- Control bladder and bowel movement
- Slowed muscle atrophy
- Improved Orthostatic Hypotension
- Increase muscle strength
- Regulate skin temperature
- Reduce muscle tension & spastic
- Improved motor functions
- Increased range of motion
- Eliminate chronic cramps & pain
Spinal Injury Treatment Risks & Precautions:
- Young adults and children respond much better to Enhanced stem cell treatments. Patients in their early 30s to late 70s also tested better after stem cell treatments.
- Injuries at or near the cervical area respond better to treatment, most likely due to better blood circulation.
- Incomplete SCI have higher success rates than complete injuries.
- Early stages (6 months to 2 years old) injuries generally will have much better results than injuries over two years old, which traditionally do not respond as well.[3]
1 Year After Stem Cells for Spine Injury
Cost of Spinal Injury Stem Cell Treatment in 2024
Treatment prices and costs at our stem cell treatment center for spinal damage depend on the severity of the Injury and the protocol needed.
The treatment requires an estimated 14-30 day stay in Thailand. To evaluate your suitability for our spinal treatment protocol, we must review recent radiology scans (MRIs, CT scans) and a clinical diagnosis from your primary care physician or a specialist in your home country. Once this information is reviewed, we will provide a complimentary treatment plan with fixed pricing. The final treatment plan will include all associated costs, such as hospital fees, rehabilitation, doctors’ fees, lab work, stem cell collection, and cell expansion. Additionally, we offer short-term apartment options for patients and their families. Residents of Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States may also qualify for medical financing. Please get in touch with us for more details.
To learn more about our combination UC-MSC+ stem cell therapy for acute spinal cord injuries, please contact us.
Published Clinical Citations
[1] ^ Amr, Sherif M, Ashraf Gouda, Wael T Koptan, Ahmad A Galal, Dina Sabry Abdel-Fattah, Laila A Rashed, Hazem M Atta, and Mohammad T Abdel-Aziz. 2013. Bridging defects in chronic spinal cord injury using peripheral nerve grafts combined with a chitosan-laminin scaffold and enhancing regeneration through them by co-transplantation with bone-marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells: case series of 14 patients. The journal of spinal cord medicine, no. 1 (November 26). doi:10.1179/2045772312Y.0000000069. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24090088
[2] ^ Dajpratham, Piyapat, and Racharin Kongkasuwan. 2011. Quality of life among the traumatic spinal cord injured patients. Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand = Chotmaihet thangphaet, no. 10. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22145512
[3] ^ Piltti, Katja M, Desiree L Salazar, Nobuko Uchida, Brian J Cummings, and Aileen J Anderson. 2013. Safety of human neural stem cell transplantation in chronic spinal cord injury. Stem cells translational medicine, no. 12 (November 4). doi:10.5966/sctm.2013-0064. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24191264