3% of the global health care budget is spent on wound care. The effectiveness of wound treatment in every second patient over 60 years old is insufficient, which indicates a high prevalence of chronic wounds. Vascular insufficiency and diabetes are the most frequent causes of non-healing wounds. In Ukraine, the situation is complicated by gunshot and mine-explosive injuries caused by Russian aggression.
Perinatal tissues (umbilical cord, placenta) were used yet by the father of medicine Hippocrates (5th century BC) in the treatment of wounds in ancient warriors, and the use of bone marrow for this purpose is described in ancient surgical manuscripts. Today, mesenchymal stem cells are increasingly used in the treatment of non-healing wounds, trophic ulcers, and diabetic foot syndrome. The latter are most often isolated from the placenta and umbilical cord, bone marrow, adipose tissue, less often from dental pulp, amniotic fluid.
Mesenchymal stem cells are considered as a unique drug for the treatment of non-healing wounds, as they have an immunomodulatory and pronounced anti-inflammatory effect, and also secrete numerous growth factors that stimulate the development of new vessels and the regeneration of damaged tissues. Local (in the area of damage) and systemic (in the blood circulation) application of mesenchymal stem cells in the treatment of wounds is described.
In Ukraine, the Institute of Cell Therapy has developed a method of wound treatment for mine-explosive injuries using the amniotic membrane obtained from the placenta. The amniotic membrane is a unique biological bandage containing biologically active substances (collagen, cytokines) and immunocompetent cells important for tissue regeneration. The high safety and effectiveness of preparations of human amniotic membrane, cryopreserved according to the method of the Institute of Cell Therapy, were also confirmed by hundreds of successful applications of this biomaterial in ophthalmology.
