HYDERABAD: "Before operation, there was no sensation. Now I am feeling the sensation and am able to get up a bit on my own," says 28-year-old man, who is into seven months of stem cell therapy for treating his spinal cord injury, which has rendered him a paraplegic since December 26, 2004, following a road accident.

He is the among a dozen people who are undergoing stem cell therapy for paralysis caused by spine injury under ICMR-approved protocol at the Global Hospitals in the city.

Expressing surprise at the "encouraging results" shown in the 28-year-old patient, who was the first one to be injected with adult stem cells at the site of the injury in spinal cord in January at the hospital, G. P. V. Subbaiah, orthopaedic and spinal surgeon, told The Hindu that the outcome so far had been beyond his expectations.

He said the patient had complete loss of sensation from chest downwards.

"Now he has regained all sensations, including light touch up to the groin. He also has increased sweating which is controlled by autonomic nervous system. This shows that the system is also responding." He said that there was some movement in legs of another patient, who met with an accident in Saudi Arabia and flew down here for stem cell therapy.

Animal studies

Dr. Subbaiah said: "before the advent of the stem cell therapy, there was only supportive treatment to prevent bed sores and other problems like urinary infection. But now there was hope that some of the lost functions could be restored." He said that there was enough data in animal studies to show that stem cell therapy worked.

He said that at least one lakh spine injuries occurred every year as per Indian Spinal Injuries Centre. However, this figure was grossly under estimated, as there was no proper data. A majority, 85 per cent to 90 per cent of the spine injury victims were in the 25 to 40 age group. The injuries crippled them in their most productive years. "It has a lot of impact on society," he observed.

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