Severe pain in the hip came as a big blow to Anil Sonavane, a 25-year-old sports enthusiast, when doctors told him that his right hip bone had deteriorated and will have to be replaced.
But for this engineer from Kopargav near Shirdi, Autologous Osteoblast Implantation—a cell therapy that helps damaged hip bone regrow—came as huge relief.
After being cautioned by doctors about doing exercises after the hip replacement surgery, Sonavane looked for alternative treatments on the internet.
“I realised that Autologous Osteoblast Implantation costs the same as hip replacement surgery. Besides that I didn’t want to have a metal cap (used for hip replacement) in my body. I decided to go for the new therapy,” said Sonavane. Sonavane was operated upon on a couple of months ago and is now recovering.
He has been advised bed rest for at least two months.
Dr Guaresh Palekar, who conducted the surgery on Sonavane, said Bilateral Avascular Necrosis (AVN) is like the ‘heart attack of the bone’.
“A part of the bone dies due to lack of blood supply. The dead piece of bone collapses under the weight of the body. In this case the femoral head of the hip, which should have a smooth spherical shape, loses its shape that leads to arthritis,” said Dr Palekar.
He said that Sonavane had got this disease too early in this life and would need more than one surgery before he turns 60.
Autologous Osteoblast Implantation involves removal of ‘basic cells of the bone’ called osteoblasts which manufacture new bone cells.
The doctor performed a biopsy of the bone to get the cells. The cells were then sent to Regenerative Medical Services Regrow laboratory at Lonavla, which cultures the cells for five weeks to regenerate up to 48 million cells.
“One million cells could form 400 cc of bone cells. This procedure is also minimally invasive. It takes 3-6 months for the new bone to be formed,” said Dr Satyen Sanghvi, the chief scientific officer of RMS Regrow.
Dr Geeta Jotwani of the ICMR said, “I am aware of this therapy. We do not have any objection to this considering there have been clinical trials done in South Korea. It is approved by the Korean and the US FDA. However, the company will need approval from the FDA.”
She added that the committee will need approval from another committee called Cellular Biological Therapeutic Drug Evaluation.
“The committee is currently only on paper. We are following the apex committee on stem cell research and therapy so far,” Dr Sanghvi said.
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