UC San Diego Health is recruiting patients with spinal cord injury to test a new treatment based on neural stem cell research, according to a Times of San Diego report.
The new treatment is for patients with thoracic vertebrae trauma suffered one and two years ago. The surgeons will transplant neural stem cells into the spine and evaluate outcomes to see whether the treatment is safe.
The researchers are also looking for how long the stem cells will last and whether drugs can prevent the immune system from rejecting the cells. Finally, the researchers want to see whether the patients experience any change in motor or sensory function. At this time, there are no proven treatments to reverse the damage to spinal cord injury, although there are biologic treatments being tested to slow or stop negative issues after the initial injury.
UC San Diego School of Medicine neurosurgeons have already tested the treatment in the laboratory and saw some signs of improvement with few side effects, and the cells have been tested successfully in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.