A hospital in Sharjah has made the United Arab Emirates the "first country in the world" to introduce a new plastic surgery technique helping patients suffering from chronic wounds.
At Al Qasimi Hospital, doctors have begun taking stem cells from a patient's abdominal fat and applying them to wounds for rapid healing. After the stem cells are removed from the patient, they are separated in a lab and then mixed with collagen.
"The UAE is the first country in the world to use this technique," Dr. Saqr Al Mulla, deputy CEO and head of plastic surgery at Al Qasimi Hospital said, according to Gulf News .
"Wound healing is a complex process involving various interactions among cells, cytokines and extracellular matrices. During the last few decades, various wound healing technologies using stem cells have been developed and some are used in the clinical field."
So far, two Emirati patients in their 20s have undergone the procedure and are responding well. Mulla also said that the hospital received approval to begin the new technique from the ethical committee at the Ministry of Health, a process that took one year.