• Submitted by: manso
• Society
• 06 / 12 / 2011

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Cubans are using stem cells in treating knee osteoporosis and lower limb lymphedema

By: Yuliet Gutiérrez Delgado.juventudrebelde.cu. 2011-06-11 | 10:59:28 EST. The comprehensive treatment of pregnant women with coagulation disorders and the use of stem cells to deal with osteoporosis and lymphedema are some of the most recent achievements presented by medical specialists with the Havana-based Hematology Institute and the Enrique Cabrera Hospital, as part of a scientific forum of this institution in the context of fiftieth anniversary.

Promising enough is the cellular treatment applied by Dr. Aymara Baganet on knee osteoporosis, a technique used in degenerative damage that appears in people over 50 years of age, who feel the benefits just three months after the treatment, with the fading of pain, walking difficulties and uncomfortable sleep.

Angiologist Pedro Goicochea is also successful in the application of stem cells on patients suffering from lower limb lymphedema, following lymphangitis, a condition causing swollen legs and which do not respond satisfactorily to traditional treatment.

Dr. Goicochea said that the treatment is simple and not very invasive, while it allows relieving swollen limbs and forming new lymphatic vessels. He said they expect to expand the treatment to patients suffering from lymphedema caused by other diseases.

Comprehensive treatment to pregnant women with coagulation deficiency is a proposal by Dr. Dunia Castillo, head of the Hospital´s Hemosthasia Department. The doctor told JR that over 90 percent of women with this condition may have a delivery without any hemorrhagic complication if they are given appropriate obstetric and hematologic attention in coordination with other medical specialties, which allows adequate treatment for each hematologic disorder.

The scientific meeting also learned of the results of an over-20-year immune-hematological study on different blood group conflicts that may cause perynatal hemolytic disease, a pathology that if not treated inflicts serious anemia on the newborns, plus jaundice and irreversible cerebral damage.

Doctor in Medical Sciences Antonio Bencomo, leading the research study, explained that the major contribution is the identification in the mother of antibodies against the antigens of the blood groups that cause the disease, as a response to genetic differences in parents.

 “This research study guarantees a safe diagnosis of these disorders, and of associated complications, as it also provides hemo-therapeutic treatment required by the baby,” he said.