A team at Hiroshima University Hospital, Hiroshima, Japan, in a world first procedure, used magnets to concentrate iron-laced stem cells around damaged cartilage. The surgeon, Mitsuo Ochi, M.D., said that the endoscopic surgery was easier on the patient than other approaches.
Prior to the surgery, the team extracted mesenchymal stem cells from the bone marrow of an 18-year-old female high school student and cultivated them with iron powder to create magnetic stem cells.
The team injected the iron-laced stem cells into the patient’s right knee joint and used the magnet to concentrate the cells in areas where the patient’s knee cartilage had been lost. The team expects that the stem cells will develop into cartilage.
According to the team, previous tests of this procedure on animals have been successful. . They anticipate that it will take a year to determine the effectiveness of this novel regenerative technique.
was the patient’s age a factor in choosing her for the procedure? I am a 76 yr. old woman with OA of my right knee and was very interested in this procedure, as I am bone on bone and have been since 2008.