Stem Cells for Low Back Pain

Discogenic low back pain, a painful degenerative disc, is the most common cause of chronic low back pain.   W. Jeremy Beckworth, from Emory University (Georgia, USA), and colleagues completed a 100-patient, phase II, international clinical trial that administered injections of bone marrow stem cells known as mesenchymal precursor cells (MPCs) to reduce pain, among patients with moderate to severe discogenic low back pain.  A single injection of stem cells into degenerative discs reduced low back pain by as much as 50%, for at least 12 months.  Additionally, there was less need for pain medication, improvement in function, and less need for further surgical and non-surgical spine interventions.