Spinal Cord injury therapies and medical situation in China

China will probably have 1 million people with spinal cord injury in 2020 (80,000 per year). One third of the spinal cord injury people in the world. The US has about 10,000 spinal cord injury patients per year.

Wise Young, MD, PhD Professor and Chair, Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Rutgers University Director, W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience Presents a talk at the March 2008 Spinal Cord Workshop: “Spinal Cord Injury: What are the barriers to cure?”

Yes this article has two long videos, but they are very interesting. Telling about procedures that are restoring mobility to full spinal cord injuries and to get past the myths about the state of medicine in China.

Chinese surgeons typically have ten times the experience of american surgeons.
Chinese orthopedic surgeons can handle bone surgery and inject stem cells.
Spinal cord procedures with stem cells need to have bone surgeons with stem cell and nerve surgery all in one or at least a very tight working teams.
The US has a strict split between bone versus neural surgeons.
China has a lot of very well funded hospitals with the latest equipment (bought with the trade surplus.)
China has shifted from government funded medicine to cash only to insurance with 50% copay.
China in 2004 clamped down on clinical trials and has the most strict regulations on it now.
They executed some doctors who did not follow the rules. Now doctors are very careful and precisely follow the rules.

Wise Young at the 2012 Spinal cord workshop

Wise Young, MD, PhD
Founding Director, W. M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience
Professor, Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience
Richard H. Shindell Chair in Neuroscience
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Talk title: Umbilical cord blood and lithium treatment of chronic spinal cord injury

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