Used of Stem Cells in Tendon and Ligament Injuries - Science and Clinical Reports

Therapies that are injected intralesionally are usually directed at healing tendons or ligaments. They are most often intended to augment the healing processes locally by providing the necessary components of healing to the tissue being treated. Alternatively they may act locally to either reduce inflammation and/or signal the cellular and molecular components of the injured and surrounding tissues to begin the reparative processes. During repair of these tissues , injured elastic fibers are replaced with modified fibrous scar tissue, resulting in repair that is suboptimal. The quality of the repair varies greatly depending on the severity of the lesion, the inherent healing properties of the individual, the rehabilitation program, and the local environment of the lesion. Some injuries may repair and resolve with enough mature collagen so that they return to normal size, with sufficient remodeling that results in parallel alignment of the fibers within the tissue. Other injuries form a scar, with a resulting increase in size of the tendon/ligament, poor or random fibrous tissue alignment, and peritendonous/ligament fibrosis. […]