When the pain in the lumbar region lasts over time, we speak of chronic low back pain or chronic low back pain. One of the most common causes of chronic low back pain is degeneration of the intervertebral disc. In most cases, this degenerative process is asymptomatic or mild and does not require treatment, but if it manifests itself with pain that persists over time, different procedures must be used to improve the patient's condition.
Treatment of Lumbar Discopathy with stem cells
Low back pain is the second leading cause of sick leave and is responsible for the annual loss of 700,000 working days, according to data provided by the Directorate General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission. It affects 67 million people in the European Union, of which about 5 million are Spanish. It is estimated that 75% of the population suffers from low back pain at some point in their lives, 90% overcome it before 3 months, but 5-10% become chronic.
What is the most common treatment?
There are different treatments to treat chronic low back pain of a degenerative cause depending on various aspects, such as the intensity or frequency of the pain.
Initially, the treatment is aimed at stabilizing the lumbar spine through exercises, correcting postural defects, reducing weight if necessary, and administering painkillers and muscle relaxants.
When the pain persists, physiotherapy and rehabilitation guidelines are usually implemented in specialized centers and infiltrations in their different variants can be used.
If the pain of lumbar discopathy persists over time despite established treatments, sometimes surgical procedures must be resorted to, such as suppression of movement, fixation of the affected space. In Spain, some 1,000 spinal fixations or arthrodesis are performed annually and some 40,000 in the USA.
How are adult stem cells applied in the treatment of chronic low back pain?
In the cases that are considered appropriate to carry out the treatment, the personalized authorization of treatment is requested from the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Health Products.
The first step is to obtain bone marrow from the patient's own pelvic bone. The sample is sent to the cell therapy laboratory of the Molecular Genetic Biology Institute of Valladolid (IBGM), which is duly accredited for the production of stem cells for human use.
For 3 weeks, the selection and cultivation of the stem cells is carried out until an amount of about 20 million is obtained for each disc. The resulting cell product is the one that is inoculated percutaneously under radioscopic control in the affected spinal disc. Both the cell collection and application procedures are performed in the operating room under light sedation and local anesthesia. Hospital admission is not necessary.
What risks exist?
To date, the procedure has been shown to be viable and no adverse effects attributable to the cell product have been recorded.
What are the results in the treatment of lumbar discopathy with stem cells?
In the clinical study carried out, patients with lumbar discopathy were followed and evaluated for one year. It was found that these patients showed a significant improvement in low back pain and disability in 9 of the 10 cases treated. One year later, the intervertebral discs of five of the patients who were part of the study showed signs of regeneration such as increased height and hydration. Until the end of 2017, more than 180 patients have been treated, obtaining similar results.