AAOS: Patient's own stem cells can help heal atrophic nonunions

 

CHICAGO | Adult stem cells aspirated from a patient's own bone marrow could become a new treatment option for atrophic nonunions.

In a small safety and efficacy trial, the seven patients with six-month follow up all showed radiographic evidence of healing of their open tibial fractures. All had undergone one to three prior surgeries.

"To get a nonunion to heal in six months is really wonderful," Dr. Matthew Jimenez, an orthopedic surgeon at the Illinois Bone and Joint Institute in Morton Grove, Ill., said in a press conference. "That's fast healing, that's the bottom line."

He said he normally tells patients that nonunions can take six to 18 months to heal with standard treatment.

Two patients in the trial developed infections that resolved with treatment. There were no changes in serum biochemistry or white cell counts.

In the procedure, approximately 150 mL of bone marrow is aspirated from the patient's iliac crest and sent to Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. in Ann Arbor, Mich., for a 12-day cell expansion process. The result is a mixture of approximately 175 million stem, stromal and progenitor cells suspended in an electrolyte solution.

The solution is mixed with particles of partially demineralized cortical-cancellous allograft bone, which acts as a scaffold. The mixture is then applied to the fracture site after the bone has been properly stabilized.

A total of 36 patients is being enrolled in the study.