Vienna Speising Hospital: focus on test tube cells

The spinal department at Vienna’s Speising Orthopaedic Hospital is widely acknowledged throughout Austria, and is continually developing new methods of treatment.  It recently opened a cell laboratory where physicians can carry out research into the possibilities for biological treatment of intervertebral disk problems.

Intervertebral disks ensure the mobility of the spine and act as shock absorbers. They have to withstand a great deal during the course of a life: a single intervertebral disk has to withstand a pressure of 23 bar when you lift a crate of beer. By comparison, the average pressure in a car tyre is 2 bar. It is not therefore surprising that degenerative changes should occur: intervertebral disks may lose water, shrink, and finally tear, which is extremely painful.  

Future lies in biological therapy

Although a disk operation can relieve the pain, it does not stop the process of degeneration. For this reason physicians at Speising Orthopaedic Hospital are trying to find biological therapies in their newly opened cell laboratory. They will soon be able to obtain new, functional intervertebral disk tissue from pathologically altered intervertebral disks – and eventually from stem cells. Although similar techniques are already used for damaged knee cartilage, research into vertebral applications is still in the early stages.

Dr. Claudia Eder, biologist, physician and head of the Speising cell laboratory, explains: “Our long-term objective is to grow defective human tissue in the test tube, and thus create healthy tissue that can serve the patient as a biologically regenerated intervertebral disk." In contrast to a metal implant, such a biologically regenerated intervertebral disk would not be regarded as a foreign body and would be incorporated into the metabolic process.

Green light for basic research

The development of biological spare parts is possible only after many years of basic research. “If the first steps in the cell laboratory are successful in the next few months, we shall follow up with further experiments and preclinical studies. Only then shall we be able to apply this method in humans,” explains Dr. Michael Ogon, head of the 3rd Orthopaedic Department at Speising, who is also responsible for the cell laboratory.