In what is claimed to be the first ever instance in India, and second perhaps in the world, a hospital in Chennai in collaboration with the Nichi in Centre for Regenerative Medicine has ‘almost’ cured a paraplegic, 23-year-old Akbar Ali, who was wheel chair bound with no sensation or activity below his chest after a fall from the fourth floor of a building in Abu Dhabi on October 12, 2006.

Flown down to Chennai, Ali underwent ‘autologous (own body) stem cell therapy on December 29. Today, discharged from the hospital, Ali is back on his feet with almost all sensations back. “I can walk, bend and feel. I never thought I could even get off the bed,” Ali said. Ali was painting the fourth floor of a building when the accident occurred. He was admitted to a hospital in Abu Dhabi and operated on for a surgical correction of the spinal chord.

Ali arrived in Chennai on December 10 last year. A family friend took him to the Lifeline Multi Specialty Hospital in Perungudi because he had lost control over passing urine or motion on his own. Fortunately for him, the hospital had just signed an agreement with the Niche-in Centre for Regenerative Medicine, backed by the Tokyo-based Biotherapy Institute and decided to take on Ali’s case as the first ‘experiment’ in stem cell therapy.

He underwent the ‘autologous’ stem cell therapy, which began on December 29. The Lifeline Hospital team aspirated 100 ml of bone marrow fluid from Ali’s hip bone and the stem cells were isolated and processed. About 20 ml of this concentrate was injected into Ali’s spinal fluid, where the maximum damage had occurred. “This case has showcased the potential of stem cell therapy to bring people with paraplegia back to normalcy in such a quick and effective manner,” said Dr R Ravi Kumar, cardiologist, and stem cell therapy project coordinator of the Hospital.

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