I get that this blog will appeal to a tiny portion of my followers, but lymphedema is a tough problem. Seen most often following injury, cancer, or surgery, lymphedema is where your body can’t drain lymph, so it backs up and causes enormous swelling. You see this when an arm swells following a mastectomy where many lymph nodes were removed.
In the past, there weren’t a ton of treatments for lymphedema. People wear compression sleeves, avoid infections and injury to the area, and for some liposuction may help.
In my journal November 2023 Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Journal there was an experimental article (meaning this is in the lab, this was done on mice), “Extracellular Vesicles from Adipose Derived Stem Cells Relieve Extremity Lymphedema in Mouse Models.” Again, I know this information is for a few. But I presented on this in residency, and lymphedema can be devastating and it is super hard to improve.
Study: This was done to see what effect extracellular vesicles derived from stem cells had on lymphedema. It is thought to promote new blood vessel formation, suppress inflammation, and regenerate damaged organs. So does it?
- Mouse models were used with bioinformatic analysis to look at the altered microRNA expression.
- They showed the stem cell extracellular vesicles promoted new lymphatic growth.
- The mice showed markedly improved swelling, with increased numbers of capillary vessels and lymphatic channels.
- Bioinformatics showed microRNA led to these changes.
They conclude because these stem cells are extracellular vesicles, it does not require getting a blood supply to graft and it has lower potential tumor formation. It has lower risk that stem cell transplant and is a promising tool.
What do I think?
Our future is in all of these new therapies which are less invasive and use stem cells and other innovative therapies. I am blogging about it because we are just at the tip of the iceberg on how to tap into this. This is in the lab. It is in mice. It is promising. Stem cells have enormous potential if we can figure out how to control and apply them. This is how we innovate, and lymphedema can be devastating.
Keep up the good work.