Stem cell jab could cure tennis elbow

A simple injection of cultivated skin cells could free millions of people from the pain of tennis elbow.

The short procedure is done by removing a very small amount of skin from the patient and using cells cultivated from the skin to help the damaged tissue regenerate. British researchers at The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Middlesex, have already safety-tested this revolutionary therapy in a pilot study of 12 patients.

Eleven were cured within weeks with no side effects. The remaining patient failed to respond. The treatment could also be used to mend damaged ligaments on other parts of the body, including the Achilles tendon.

Tennis elbow, which is known in medical terms as lateral epicondylitis, is a degenerative condition thought to affect two million people in Britain. It is caused by the wearing of the tendon that joins the forearm muscle to the upper arm. Currently, tennis elbow is treatable with products like the Aircast Pneumatic Armband or, in more serious cases, steroid injections.

Repeated overuse of the arm (as in ironing, painting and playing racquet sports ) is the usual cause, but it can also be caused by a single event, such as straining to lift a heavy object. In the condition, pain increases gradually across the outside of the elbow, which becomes severe on certain movements.

Cell cultivation

In this treatment, a 4mm piece of skin is taken from the hip and used to cultivate "stem" cells. Stem cells are capable of evolving into any form of cell or tissue.

Although adult stem cells tend to be less flexible than embryo stem cells, they can develop into tissue similar to their site of origin. For instance, skin stem cells can be grown into muscle tendon or ligaments but not into heart tissue or blood cells.

The advantage they have over embryonic stem cells is that using the patients' own stem cells means the chances of rejection are low. The few stem cells taken from the skin are cultured until a million cells have grown. This process takes between four and six weeks.

The cells are then injected into the affect tendon under ultrasound guidance. A team of researchers, led by Dr David Connell, tested the technique in a pilot study last year.

Proven success

One of the patients was tennis elbow sufferer Michael Arciero, 54, a hospital porter from Chessington in Surrey.

He said: "Whenever I tried lifting anything, pain shot all the way down to my hand," 

"I was treated with blood injections, which worked although my arm took weeks to improve.

"But when the condition flared up in my right arm, it was much more debilitating, probably because I'm right-handed and rely on that side more.

"After the procedure, I was told to avoid lifting anything heavy for a fortnight, but within two days the pain had gone. A week later, I was back at the gym."