Breakthrough in stem cell surgery

PARNU - Estonian doctors were preparing to present a real success story at a medical conference in Parnu last Friday – the first patient in Estonia in whose hand her own cell stems were implanted, restoring the mobility of her hand. This is a procedure which offers new possibilities for effective restoring of tissue in the future, reports Postimees.

On April 16 this year, a team of doctors of the Hospital of Reconstructive Surgery, headed by surgeon Romek Martsin, conducted an operation aimed to give 18-year-old Anett Torri back the ability to move her left hand and use her fingers, which had become immobile due to scar tissue after she suffered a severe burn when she was 6 years old. She can now, nearly six months after the first operation, freely move the hand that was restricted earlier by scar tissue on her arm, and can stretch her fingers that were crooked, and bend her wrist that was tilted before.

The doctors took fat tissue from the patient, which was then processed in a Cytor machine, which separated stem cells which were injected to the patient’s hand. The first operation was followed later by a second when fat tissue was added to the hand, which all restored the tissue lost in the fire and softened the scars that restricted the movement of the hand.
Dr. Martsin and Dr. Andrus Loog, from the Hospital of Reconstructive Surgery, were to present the results of the first surgery in Estonia with use of autologic stem cells, in Parnu at the symposium ‘Cell Stem Treatment – Breakthrough in Regenerative Medicine.’