Treatment of pressure ulcers with autologous bone marrow nuclear cells in patients with spinal cord injury

Context

Pressure ulcers are especially difficult to treat in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) and recurrence rates are high. Prompted by encouraging results obtained using bone marrow stem cells to treat several diseases including chronic wounds, this study examines the use of autologous stem cells from bone marrow to promote the healing of pressure ulcers in patients with SCI.

Objective

To obtain preliminary data on the use of bone marrow mononuclear cells (BM-MNCs) to treat pressure ulcers in terms of clinical outcome, procedure safety, and treatment time.

Participants

Twenty-two patients with SCI (19 men, 3 women; mean age 56.41 years) with single type IV pressure ulcers of more than 4 months duration.

Interventions

By minimally invasive surgery, the ulcers were debrided and treated with BM-MNCs obtained by Ficoll density gradient separation of autologous bone marrow aspirates drawn from the iliac crest.

Results

In 19 patients (86.36%), the pressure ulcers treated with BM-MNCs had fully healed after a mean time of 21 days. The number of MNCs isolated was patient dependent, although similar clinical outcomes were observed in each case. Compared to conventional surgical treatment, mean intra-hospital stay was reduced from 85.16 to 43.06 days. Following treatment, 5 minutes of daily wound care was required per patient compared to 20 minutes for conventional surgery. During a mean follow-up of 19 months, none of the resolved ulcers recurred.

Conclusions

Our data indicate that cell therapy using autologous BM-MNCs could be an option to treat type IV pressure ulcers in patients with SCI, avoiding major surgical intervention.     

两种方式移植骨髓基质干细胞治疗大鼠脊髓损伤的电生理研究

目的 通过立体定向和尾静脉移植骨髓基质干细胞(BMSCs)于脊髓损伤(SCI)大鼠体内,观察移植后诱发电位的变化及移植细胞对大鼠SCI神经功能恢复的影响. 方法 体外分离、纯化、扩增大鼠BMSCs,移植前用免疫组化单染BrdU标记.动脉瘤夹钳夹法制作大鼠SCI模型.将45只健康成年雌性SD大鼠随机分为对照组、静脉移植组和立体定向移植组(n=15).对照组仅造模,静脉移植组和立体定向移植组在致伤7d后分别经尾静脉和立体定向途径将标记BrdU的BMSCs悬液植入SCI大鼠体内.通过神经电生理检测比较不同途径移植BMSCs对SCI大鼠神经功能恢复的影响. 结果 三组大鼠造模前和造模后7d诱发电位潜伏期及波幅比较,差异均无统计学意义(P＞0.05);造模后30 d所有大鼠潜伏期逐渐出现不同程度缩短,而波幅逐渐出现不同程度升高.立体定向移植组与静脉移植组大鼠运动诱发电位、感觉诱发电位恢复均优于对照组,且立体定向移植组大鼠运动诱发电位恢复优于静脉移植组,差异有统计学意义(P＜0.05).结论 BMSCs经不同途径移植均可在大鼠脊髓内存活、迁移,明显改善SCI大鼠的神经功能缺损,且移植等量BMSCs时立体定向移植疗效优于尾静脉移植.     

干细胞与脊髓损伤的治疗

脊髓损伤的治疗一直是世界性的难题,促进脊髓损伤后神经组织的修复,传统的手术和相应的辅助治疗并未取得突破性进展。组织工程学的发展,为神经组织的修复提供了良好的可能。被移植到患者脊髓损伤区域的干细胞,通过替换受损细胞、减少胶质瘢痕的形成、促进残存神经元细胞轴突再生及突触形成等,可促进脊髓形态及功能恢复。我们就目前应用干细胞治疗脊髓损伤的研究现状进行概述,并对其临床应用前景进行展望。     

SCI Article & Abstract Review

Abstract

Background/Objective: Differences in soft-tissue stiffness may provide for a quantitative assessment and detection technique for pressure ulcers or deep-tissue injury. An ultrasound indentation system may provide a relatively convenient, simple, and noninvasive method for quantitative measurement of changes in soft- tissue stiffness in vivo.

Methods: The Tissue Ultrasound Palpation System (TUPS) was used to quantitatively measure changes in soft-tissue stiffness at different anatomical locations within and between able-bodied persons and individuals with chronic spinal cord injury (SCI). The stiffness of soft tissue was measured at the ischial tuberosity, greater trochanter, posterior midthigh, and biceps brachii. Additionally, soft-tissue thickness and soft-tissue deformation were also measured.

Results: Significant differences in soft-tissue stiffness were observed within the various anatomical locations tested, in both the able-bodied and SCI groups. Differences in soft-tissue stiffness were also observed between the 2 groups. Participants with SCI had significantly softer tissue in their buttock-thigh area.

Conclusions: TUPS is a clinically feasible technology that can reliably and effectively detect changes in soft-tissue stiffness. The study has provided a better understanding of the tissue mechanical response to external loading, specifically in the SCI population, suggesting the use of tissue stiffness as a parameter to detect and assess pressure-related soft-tissue injury.