A group of medical researchers has been studying the use of stem cells from patients' peripheral blood in order to generate new tissue to cure the ulcers.

The project is a collaboration between medical researchers from Chulalongkorn Hospital, Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital and Thai StemLife, a private company which provides a stem-cell collection service.

Dr Teerachai Chantarojanasiri, director of Samitivej Srinakarin Hospital, said the team would carry out clinical trials using stem-cell therapy on diabetic patients. As the project involves clinical trials on humans, the team had to first get approval from the National Ethics Committee for Human Research.

Under the plan, the team will use stem-cell therapy to treat around 30 diabetic patients who have severe limb ulcers and are likely to undergo amputation, and then study the results.

Dr Teerachai said the stem-cell therapy would be conducted among a sample group over the next three months and the research team would study the results before adopting the method for general use. It is expected the project will be concluded by the end of the year.

The process involves using from the patient's own peripheral blood stem cells. The patients, he explained, would be dosed with a stimulant substance for three to five days to encourage their bone marrow to produce stem cells in the blood vessels.

The cells will then be extracted and kept for further use.

As stem-cell therapy can be carried out via various methods, Dr Teerachai said in this project the team had chosen to inject the patient's stem cells back through their blood vessels as it is believed this method could help the patient's body system better develop new tissue around the ulcers.

Other methods, which are now used to cure limb ulcers in other countries, include the direct injection of stem cells around the ulcers as well as stem-cell implantation.

Dr Teerachai said the team has to study the results, especially on new tissue development around the ulcers, and the chance of the limbs returning to normal.

In other countries, there is a 70 per cent chance of saving patients' limbs thanks to stem-cell therapy. The team also hopes to eventually increase these chances to 90 per cent in the future.

Dr Teerachai said the team would also study whether directing stem cells into the diabetic patients' blood vessels would also increase the amount of insulin in their bodies. The study may also help the team in the future to find ways to cure diabetes.

It is hoped stem-cell therapy will become a new alternative medical treatment for diabetic patients.

It's estimated that a patient needs around Bt1 million to cure their limb ulcers as well as for amputation and each year around Bt40 billion is spent across the country on these medical treatments.

Treatment via stem-cell therapy is estimated to cost around Bt200,000 per patient. Dr Teerachai said not only would the patients have a better chance of saving their limbs, the country as a whole could also save Bt3.2 billion on medical treatment annually.

Realising the potential of stem cell therapy as a new medical innovation, the National Innovation Agency (NIA) has given a Bt3-million grant to the project, which is expected to cost Bt8 million.

Pongpen Sutharoj

The Nation