Regenerating Intervertebral Discs

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Another nice application of early regenerative medicine via Medical News Today: "Lower back pain (LBP) affects a large proportion of the adult population at some point in their lives and in many of these cases it is persistent, eventually leading to debilitating pain. The majority of the cases of LBP are due to degeneration of the intervertebral disc (IVD), the soft tissue which separates the vertebrae in the spine and protects them from damage ... The treatment Dr Richardson is developing uses a cell-based tissue engineering approach to regenerate the IVD at the affected level. This is achieved through the combination of the patients' own mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and a naturally occurring collagen gel that can be implanted through a minimally-invasive surgical technique." So far as timing goes, the researcher is "hoping to enter pre-clinical trials next year."

Link: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=57953