Stem cells used to heal chronic wounds in Sharjah

Sharjah: Doctors at Al Qasimi Hospital are introducing a new technique in plastic surgery, giving hope to patients suffering from chronic wounds.

The technology is beneficial to patients who have wounds in different part of their body that take a long time to heal.

“The UAE is the first country in the world to use this technique,” Dr Saqr Al Mulla, deputy CEO and head of plastic surgery at Al Qasimi Hospital, said during a press conference on Tuesday.

Doctors take stem cells from abdominal fat and send it to the laboratory for separation and this procedure takes about one to two weeks. Then the stem cells are mixed with collagen and applied on the wounds for rapid healing.

Patients’ own stem cells are being used in the surgery, Dr Al Mulla explained.

Dr Al Mulla said adult stem cells are found in fat and removed by liposuction and this operation takes only 20 minutes.

The hospital conducted two surgeries on Emirati patients in their 20s. One of them is paralysed and the other suffered from renal failure and diabetes. Both were suffering from chronic wounds. They were operated on last week and have responded well to the treatment.

“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,” he said.

Dr Al Mulla said the hospital took approval from the ethical committee at the Ministry of Health before the surgery.

“It took one year to get the approval,” he said.