Regenerative medicine company Orthocell has been recognised in a prestigious peer-reviewed journal for its tendon injury treatment, which uses stem cell technology.
The treatment, known as Autologous Tenocyte Implantation (ATI), involves taking a biopsy of the patient's healthy tendon, isolating and cultivating tendon stem cells from the tissue, then injecting them into the injured tendon.
The Perth-based company says the process takes about 20 minutes and is less invasive than surgery.
Professor Ming Hao Zheng of the University of Western Australia's Centre for Translational Orthopaedic Research, who led the development team, said treatment options for people suffering from tendon injury and related disorders were limited.
"There are no targeted drug therapies and surgery often delivers unsatisfactory results," Prof Zheng said.
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But ATI has been hailed in the American Journal of Sports Medicine as a safe and effective procedure that repairs tendons and reduces the pain of conditions such as tennis elbow.
"This novel treatment is encouraging for the treatment of tendinopathy and warrants further evaluation," the journal concluded.
Orthocell managing director Paul Anderson said the company was now focused on offering the treatment more widely to patients throughout Australia and New Zealand, and was also investigating potential overseas markets.
