A recent study performed by researchers in Colombia used stem cells from umbilical cord blood to repair cleft palates in children. The results of the trial were successful and may lead to a treatment that replaces the need for bone grafts in children with this condition.
A cleft palate occurs when a baby is born with a gap in their skull located between the nose and mouth. This condition is often related to a genetic condition or syndrome. It is a serious condition with symptoms including difficulty speaking and eating, hearing loss, mouth breathing, and nasal congestion. About one in every 700 babies born in the UK will have a cleft palate.
The traditional treatment for a cleft palate involved surgery to insert a section of bone into the gap between the mouth and nose.
The Colombian research team realised that they could potentially repair a cleft palate with a transfusion of a child’s own umbilical cord blood. They developed a procedure which was recently trialed at the Hospital De San Jose in Bogota, Colombia. Nine children with cleft palates received the treatment. Researchers found that all of the children experienced bone growth around the gap in their skull after receiving the transfusion.
The research team explained the role that umbilical cord stem cells could play, writing: “The potential regenerative power of the stem cell encouraged [us] to find new methods to be added to the classical surgical techniques and make possible better results [for] cleft patients.”
The treatment begins with doctors using a device similar to a dentist’s retainer to remould the soft tissue in the patient’s jaw. The patient then has surgery to correct the shape of the skin on the upper lip. During this procedure, the patient also receives an injection of umbilical cord stem cells in the area where the jaw bone is missing. The stem cells are kept in place with an absorbable pad that is removed later on. The transplanted stem cells quickly differentiate into bone cells and begin closing the gap cause by the cleft palate.
The doctors found that the stem cells began to rebuild the missing bone very quickly. If further tests confirm the effectiveness of this treatment, bone grafts may no longer be required.
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