Spinal Cord Injury

Damage to the spinal cord usually results in impairments or loss of muscle movement, muscle control, sensation and body system control.

Presently, post-accident care for spinal cord injury patients focuses on extensive physical therapy, occupational therapy, and other rehabilitation therapies; teaching the injured person how to cope with their disability.

A number of published papers and case studies support the feasibility of treating spinal cord injury with allogeneic human umbilical cord tissue-derived stem cells and autologous bone marrow-derived stem cells.

Feasibility of combination allogeneic stem cell therapy for spinal cord injury: a case report co-authored by Stem Cell Institute Founder Dr. Neil Riordan references many of them. Published improvements include improved ASIA scores, improved bladder and/or bowel function, recovered sexual function, and increased muscle control.

The adult stem cells used to treat spinal cord injuries at the Stem Cell Institute come from two sources: the patients own bone marrow (autologous mesenchymal and CD34+) and human umbilical cord tissue(allogeneic mesenchymal). Umbilical cords are donated by mothers after normal, healthy births.

A licensed anesthesiologist harvests bone marrow from both hips under light general anesthesia in a hospital operating room. This procedure takes about 1 1/2 2 hours. Before they are administered to the patient, these bone marrow-derived stem cells must pass testing for quality, bacterial contamination (aerobic and anaerobic) and endotoxin.

All donated umbilical cords are screened for viruses and bacteria to International Blood Bank Standards.

Only about 1 in 10 donated umbilical cords pass our rigorous screening process.

Through retrospective analysis of our cases, weve identified proteins and genes that allow us to screen several hundred umbilical cord donations to find the ones that we know are most effective. We only use these cells and we call them golden cells.

We go through a very high throughput screening process to find cells that we know have the best anti-inflammatory activity, the best immune modulating capacity, and the best ability to stimulate regeneration.

The bodys immune system is unable to recognize umbilical cord-derived mesenchmyal stem cells as foreign and therefore they are not rejected. HUCT stem cells have been administered thousands of times at the Stem Cell Institute and there has never been a single instance rejection (graft vs. host disease). Umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells also proliferate/differentiate more efficiently than older cells, such as those found in the fat and therefore, they are considered to be more potent.

VIDEO Watch Professor Arnold Caplan explain how this works.

Our stem cell treatment protocol for spinal cord injury calls for a total of 16 injections over the course of 4 weeks.

The bone marrow-derived and umbilical cord tissue-derived stem cells are both administered intravenously by a licensed physician.

They are also injected intrathecally (into the spinal fluid) by an experienced anesthesiologist. Intrathecal injection enables the stem cells to bypass the blood-brain barrier and migrate to the injury site within the spinal canal.

*Upon availability

Proper follow-up is essential for us to monitor your condition after treatment. It also helps us evaluate treatment efficacy and improve our protocols based on reported outcomes over time.

Therefore, one of our medical staff will be contacting you at the following intervals: 1 month, 3 months, 4 months, and 1 year.

Yes, we do. Several of our spinal cord injury patients currently volunteer to speak with prospective patients. Your patient coordinator will be happy to put you in touch with them once your treatment evaluation has been completed.

Weve also published written testimonials, news articles and videos from our spinal cord injury patients. Please take a look!

You may contact us by telephone 1 (800) 980-STEM (toll-free in US) and 1 (954) 358-3382.

To apply for stem cell treatment, please complete this stem cell therapy patient application form.

*Please not that the above treatment outline is typical. However, actual treatment scheduling might vary slightly.

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