New Technique Uses Umbilical Cord Stem Cells for Early Repair of Cleft Palate
A technique using umbilical cord blood stem cells could be a promising new approach for repair of cleft palate in infants, reports a paper in The Journal of Craniofacial Surgery, published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer. Performed as part of reconstructive surgery when the infant is a few months old, the stem cell procedure provides good results in growing new bone to close the upper jaw cleft – and may avoid the need for later bone graft surgery, according to the case report by Alejandro Garcia Botero, MD, of Hospital