Hong Kong doctors report successful early results from the world's first spinal disc transplants.
The patients -- one woman and four men -- got their disc transplants in 2000 and 2001. They had had herniated discs in the neck.
Five years after the transplants, the patients had less disc pain than before surgery, and their immune systems hadn't rejected the transplanted discs, according to the doctors.
The technique needs refinement, but disc transplantation "could be an effective treatment for degenerative disc disease," the doctors write.
They include Keith D.K. Luk, FRCS, a professor in the University of Hong Kong's department of orthopedics and traumatology. The report appears in The Lancet.
http://www.webmd.com/back-pain/news/20070322/transplanted-spinal-discs-show-promise?src=RSS_PUBLIC
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