New technique to repair damaged bones developed

Spire HealthcareOct 3 2009

Spire Healthcare's private hospital in Southampton has pioneered a new technique which uses stem cells to repair damaged bones. Orthopaedic Surgeon, Mr Douglas Dunlop carried out the procedure which may prevent thousands of people from needing hip replacement operations in the future.

The treatment works by using the patient's own stem cells (immature cells which can grow into different types of tissue) which are harvested from bone marrow in the pelvis and purified. The stem cells are then mixed with a composite of cleaned and ground up bone taken from previous hip replacement patients. Doctors remove the dead tissue from the ball of the patient's hip and fill the cavity with the bone and stem cell composite.

Mark Venables, 39, suffers from a condition where the bone in his hip had died and causes him severe pain on movement. Mark was one of the first patients to receive the private medical treatment designed to rejuvenate the affected bone.

Mr Dunlop, who performed Mark's procedure at the Spire Southampton private hospital, commented "If this new procedure works, he won't need a hip replacement. It will fix his hip for life."

Six patients have successfully been treated with the pioneering. Patients recovering from this surgery have hailed the treatment, stating that they are now able to walk without pain.