Ritaben was injected with stem cells at the Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Centre (IKDRC)- Institute of Transplantation Sciences (ITS). Dr. H. L. Trivedi, the director of the institute, says: “We were working on stem cells in relation with organ transplantation when we came across this case. Considering her situation, we gave it a try and it worked.”

IKDRC-ITS has been doing pioneering work in the field of stem cell therapy. What began as a venture to use stem cells in kidney transplantations to increase tolerance for the foreign organ has now grown to cutting-age stem cell research work.

Doctors at the ITS are working on new ways to develop stem cell lines. They have already succeeded in developing stem cells from adipose (fat) tissue.

Dr. Aruna Vanikar, who heads the stem cell research team, says: “It is a better method for culturing stem cells than the embryonic method. A woman has to go through a lot in the process of developing embryonic stem cells. Here we use the body fat to develop it and the cells are as good.”

However, Dr. Sujata Mohanty, in-charge of the stem cell facility at AIIMS, says: “Theoretically you can have stem cells from any part of the body. There have been few reports about them being developed from adipose tissue, but we do not do it at AIIMS.”

The fat-derived stem cells conform to the guidelines laid down by the Mesenchymal and Tissue Stem Cell Committee of the International Society of Cellular Therapy. Stem cells have the capacity to grow into various types of cells. So in the instant case, the cells injected in the spinal cord, attaches itself to damaged nerves and grows into one. It takes around 10 days to develop a stem cell line and improvements start from as early as the next day of the operation. Often the first feeling is that of pain.

Dr. Trivedi says, “Pain was the last sensation for these patients before they became paralysed, and when sensation returns, it does with pain.”

From January last year till now, doctors at the ITS have treated more than a 100 cases of spinal cord injuries. Out of this, 26 have been injected with stem cells developed using body fat. Results have been very encouraging and patients have showed marked improvement.

Says Dr. Trivedi: “This has come as a lease of new life for the patients. Post trauma paraplegia can be very depressing. We are trying our best to help them.” All the research at the ITS is done by a small but committed team of 15-20 doctors and technicians. Abreast with latest developments in stem cells internationally and with their own indigenous work here, they have given hopes to paraplegia patients, when many of them had given up.