stem cell therapy for rotator cuff tears | Stemcelldoc's …

Another Success: Treatment of Supraspinatus Tear with StemCells

In a previous blog I discussed the clinical success of rotator cuff repair using expanded stem cell therapy.

Today we had the opportunity to review MRI images of an elderly patient who also underwent the Regenexx procedure 2 years ago for a supraspinatus tear. ABis an 80y/o patient with neck, headache and shouder pain. Her shoulder pain wassevere and she was unable to lift her shoulder. She declined surgery and elected to proceed with mesenchymal stem cell therapy. Her own stem cells were injected into the rotator cuff tear under x-ray guidance.

To understand the differencesin pre and post MRIs, some basic MRIconcepts and anatomy is essential.

The image above is the patients pre-injection coronal MRI. The rotator cuff tendon is the area of interest. The rotator cuff is compromised of 4 principle muscles. Muscles have two parts: the muscle belly and the attachment of the muscle to bone(tendon). Tears in the rotator cuff commonly involve the tendon.

Above are ABs pre and post MRIs . On the left the rotator cuff tendon(red arrows) are bright in color and mottled in appearance. This means that its a full thicknesstear with severe degeneration. On the right is ABs MRI 2 year post stem cell injection. The rotator cuff tendon identified by the yellow arrowsis better organized and darker in color consistent with significant healing. This is consistent with her clinical improvement. She reports 100% improvement in pain and full range of motion.

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The rotator cuff is compromised of 4 principles muscles and theirtendons: supraspinatus, infraspinatus, subscapularis and teres minor. Collectively they stabilizethe jointand allow for movement . Tendons at the end of the rotator cuff muscles can become torn resulting in pain and restriction in motion. The majority of tears occur in the supraspinatus tendon. Typical presentation includes pain with impaired motion. Surgicaltreatment often involvesarthorscopic repair, subacromial decompression or use of an anchor to secure the tendon to the bone. Surgical complications included fatty atrophy, re-tears of the rotator cuff, infection and failure.

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