Surgeons at Yale Medicine in New Haven, Conn., are using stem cell treatments to treat some hip conditions without joint replacements, ABC affiliate WTNH reported March 1.
Patients in their 30s and 40s with avascular necrosis can have their stem cells used to help the body repair itself. The stem cell treatment works when the blood supply to the hip is injured, the report said.
"We know if you don’t have this stem cell procedure, 50 percent of these hips are going to collapse,” Yale surgeon Daniel Wiznia, MD, told the station. “If you have the procedure, there’s a 75 percent chance we can prevent the collapse."