The Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC) provides services and manages technological development projects to meet the demands in the medical-health areas, among others.
The Institute promotes the development of new advances in Venezuelan medicine. In this case, it is an innovative regenerative treatment with stem cells and Venezuela becomes the first country to perform a cure for Congenital Pseudoarthrosis of the Tibia.
It is important to note that all the treatments applied with the implementation of stem cells promoted by the IVIC are free.
The surgery was performed on a four-year-old female patient, who was born with Congenital Pseudoarthrosis of the tibia bone, and who received stem cell treatment from a healthy donor. According to the specialists in charge of the case, they have sent the evaluation and evolution reports to the UTC-IVIC team, confirming success and without any side effects. After surgery, a splint is placed to strengthen the new bone and start walking.
It is significant to know that congenital pseudarthrosis of the tibia is a pediatric orthopedic pathology. Boyd classifies it into six grades, for study, diagnosis and treatment.
Once the pseudoarthrosis is established, the treatment is surgical and these are the most commonly used conventional methods:
Boyd double bone graft
Vascularized bone graft of the fibula.
Reception of the nonunion focus and internal fixation with the Peter-William stem
Reception of the pseudoarthrosis focus and bone transportation with RALCA external fixation device, or Ilizarov 2.
Patients with a nonunion often experience pain at the fracture site for months or years.
Terms used:
Congenital pseudarthrosis of the tibia: it is the lack of union at birth or that is established in a pre-existing congenital lesion of the distal half of the tibia.
Stem cells: All blood cells in the body (white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets) start out as young cells called hematopoietic stem cells.
Bone grafting: It is a surgical intervention to place new bone inside the spaces located around a broken bone or bone defects.
