Stem Cells used to heal chronic wounds in UAE

A hospital in Sharjah, UAE (United Arabian Emirates) succeeded to be the first hospital to utilize stem cells in order to fix extensive wounds that need much time to heal. This new plastic surgery technique definitely opens new horizons. The head plastic surgeon of Al Qasimi Hospital, Dr. Saqr Al Mulla states: “The UAE is the first country in the world to use this technique.”

What this process is about? The doctors harvest stem cells from fat layer of the abdomens by means of liposuction (a process that takes 20 minutes – find more details about that right here). The cells are taken to the laboratory in order to separate them, a procedure that takes almost 1-2 weeks. The isolated stem cells are mixed with collagen and are applied in the area that needs to be healed.

The first such treatments were done in 2 patients in their 20s. The first suffered from diabetes and renal failure while the second was paralysed and the results seem to be quite encouraging. Dr. Mulla says: “Wound healing is a complex process involving various interactions among cells, cytokines and extracellular matrices. During the last few decades, various wound healing technologies using stem cells have been developed and some are used in the clinical field.”

We also need to notice that an approval from the ethical commitee at the Ministry of Health was taken before the operations were done. This process took one year to be completed.