Stem Cell Therapy: How stem cell therapy can help with post covid complications?

Stem Cell Therapy: The memories of those two terrible years of Coronavirus are still in mind. Although now this disease is not that terrible but still post covid is complicated. While there is no exact cure for the diseases that emerge from post covid complications, stem cell therapy is one such ray of hope that has helped millions of people recover from post covid lung fibrosis.

What is Post Covid Fibrosis?

It is known to all of us that Corona came as the worst medical problem for the entire mankind, where lakhs of people lost their lives. There are still thousands of people who have still not recovered from the harmful effects of Covid.

There are many patients who are facing lung fibrosis or interstitial lung disease after covid. Such patients require oxygen every day to live even after Covid. Such people have shortness of breath and frequent dry cough. According to lung specialists this is a very serious problem and not much can be done to help such patients.

What is stem cell therapy?

Stem cell therapy, also known as regenerative medicine, uses stem cells or their derivatives to promote the repair response of diseased, scarred or injured tissue. This is the next chapter in organ transplantation and uses cells instead of donor organs, which are limited in supply. Stem-cell therapy is the use of stem cells to treat or prevent a disease or condition.

This usually takes the form of a bone-marrow transplant, but cells can also be obtained from cord blood. Stem cell therapies can be used to develop various sources for stem cells, as well as for neurodegenerative diseases and conditions such as diabetes and heart disease.

Dr B S Rajput: A ray of hope

Lucknow-Based Dr B S Rajput, Consultant Orthopedic and Stem Cell Transplant Surgeon at Clinical Hospital and Research Center Mumbai and Professor of Regenerative Medicine and Cell Based Therapy at GSVM Medical College, has emerged as a new ray of hope in this regard.

Dr Rajput explained that stem cell therapy is already being used in many cases of nerve diseases such as autism, spinal cord injury, muscular dystrophy and ALS. In such a situation, patients with lung fibrosis will get great relief from stem cell therapy.

Speaking to Newstrack, Dr Rajput said that till now there are about 7 lakh people who have not recovered completely from the pandemic.

Such people are still going through the phase of post covid complications. Such people are facing serious diseases like ILD (Interstitial Lung Disease), Lung Fibrosis, Malassae, Muscle Wasting (Weight Loss), Cardio Vascular Problem and Arthritis after Covid. Dr Rajput told that lung fibrosis is a deadliest disease in all of them. The complete treatment of this disease with traditional techniques is not yet possible.

Dr Rajput said that among the traditional remedies so far to cure lung fibrosis, anti fibrosis drugs, corticosteroids and oxygen therapy are the main ones.

He told that in 2007 some of his friends set up a laboratory in Mumbai for the formal production of stem cells. He was not a part of this lab in the beginning. Later they were also included in it.

Dr B S Rajput treated a woman from Lucknow

Incidentally, such a situation came in front of a Lucknow-based woman who was already suffering from lung disease since 2016, but never needed oxygen to survive. But after being infected with COVID in April 2021, she survived, but developed a fatal lung disease called lung fibrosis, for which no definitive treatment is currently available. She needed oxygen round the clock to survive.

The patient was undergoing treatment at Ajanta Hospital, a local hospital in Lucknow. Dr. Rajput is also available in the hospital on the third Monday of the month. The doctors of the hospital contacted Dr Rajput in this regard. The woman underwent a stem cell transplant. This transplant took place under the supervision of Dr B S Rajput.

A simple procedure of stem cell therapy was performed on the patient. The patient has improved significantly during the last 3 months and his oxygen requirement has reduced by 50%. Let us tell you that this 52-year-old woman needed 2 liters of oxygen in the first 24 hours of stem cell therapy. Now its requirement is almost halved. The woman's lung was damaged up to 65 percent earlier. The woman has got a lot of relief after the therapy.

How is stem cell therapy done?

Dr Rajput told that the process of stem cell therapy is very simple. Cell concentrate is made from the bone marrow. And it is transplanted through the blood inside the patient. This procedure is very simple and does not even require complete sedation of the patient. Dr Rajput told that this procedure is completed only through local anaesthesia. He told that once stem cell therapy starts showing improvement in the patient. This process is done at least thrice a year. After that the patient can get complete rest.

How much does it cost?

Dr BS Rajput said that the stem cell therapy procedure costs about Rs 2.5 lakh at a time. If the procedure is done thrice a year, then a patient will have to spend around Rs 7.5 lakh in a year.

Insurance companies, government are helping

Dr Rajput said that a lot of money is spent in this process and the government is helping the poor people to ensure that they remain within the reach of the common people. He told that 80 percent of all such procedures he has done so far were people with government help. Dr Rajput says that he has done stem cell therapy for many such people in Metro Hospital, Noida, who were helped by PM and CM Relief Fund. Dr Rajput said that along with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan is also coming forward to help such people.

All insurance companies are also providing financial relief to such patients. Dr Rajput said that the insurance companies are now reimbursing the money spent on stem cell therapy.