Iranian researchers reconstruct defected mandible using brain death bones, cell therapy

Researchers at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences have reconstructed the mandible using bones from brain death patients and stem cells.
Dr. Mehdi Gholami, project manager, told Mehr News about the common procedures for mandible reconstruction and added “for the reconstruction of major mandibular defects, usually the hip bone is used which causes problems when walking.

“For the reconstruction of major mandible defects enough bone cannot be taken out of the hip bone, therefore we looked for new ways of reconstructing the mandible,” he added.

Details of the mandible implantation

Gholami added “We extracted the mandible of brain death patients at Iran Tissue Bank and injected them with stem cells provided by Royan Institute from the patients themselves.” He also added that the research was operational under the title “Elimination of Mandibular Defects Using Allogeneic Scaffold and Stem Cells.”

The project manager counted the transplantation of the bone onto the patient as the next step and said that “this procedure was made operational on 4 patients and it was successful for 3, ending in the reconstruction of the mandible.”

Proof of the transplantation life

He also said that in one case the transplantation has failed, mostly due to the operation, rather than the stem cells or the sample from the tissue bank, stressing the fact that examinations demonstrated the life of the transplanted part.

“The procedure has been recommended as one of the state-of-the-art methods in elimination of major defects,” the researcher pointed out.

“The method is used for patients who have lost part or whole mandible due to tumor, accident, or gun shots. For the reconstruction, bone can be provided from the tissue bank and transplanted by using stem cells from the patient,” said Gholami.
On the benefits of the method he added that using this method ruled out the need to take out bones from the patient’s skull or hip.

Gholami pointed to the research in the field and explained that in the next phase of the studies samples will be provided by the transplanted bone, so that the success of the transplantation is proved.