Stem cell therapy in trial on arthritic knees

Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Oswestry, Shropshire (RJAH) hit the headlines recently when Prof. James Richardson, Professor of Orthopaedics at RJAH and Prof. Sally Roberts, Professor of Orthopaedic Research for Keele University, reported news of an exciting new trial on stem cell therapy to treat osteoarthritis of the knee which will be tested on patients in the UK for the first time.

A year-long trial will mix stem cells with cartilage cells in the lab and inject them back into damaged knee joints.

The new treatment could be an alternative to joint replacement surgery, experts hope.

Scientists from Keele University will study up to 70 people from the end of this year.

The trial will be run at the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Oswestry, Shropshire as part of a five-year research programme.

Three treatments are being tested in a randomised trial of patients with osteoarthritis of the knee.

The advantage of stem cell treatment is that it's much less invasive than major joint replacement surgery.

Prof Richardson explains how the trial works in the video below.

Some text and video courtesy of BBC News Health

Published: 13/07/2010