Stem Cell Therapy Treatments

Latest advancements

Latest advancements in MicroCare ENT Hospital and Research Institute, ENT Super Speciality International Hospital in Hyderabad strives to provide the best research outputs in the field of ENT and micro ear surgery to patients who require those advancements. Recent Advances and Future Directions in Hearing Research.

Stem Cell Therapy for the inner ear.

Hearing in humans is mediated through the mechanosensory hair cells located within the inner ear. Hair cells are generated only during a short period of embryonic development. As a result, loss of hair cells are in a consequence of disease, injury or genetic mutation, will leads to the permanent hearing loss. At present, cochlear implantation which bypasses hair cells is the only option for profound hearing loss. However, the outcome with the cochlear implantation are still variable and even the best implant will not provide the acuity of a biological ear.

Recent emergence of the stem cell technology has more potential for new therapy for profound hearing loss through the hair cell regeneration.

Identification of molecular component stereocilin prestin has advanced by understanding hair cell transduction at which the hair cells convert the sound vibrations into an electrical signal. Dozens of new gene defects in the hereditary hearing loss that have been identified in the recent years to predict the better course of hearing loss and develop stem cell therapeutic interventions like as possible use of endogenous inner ear stem cells to induce repair as well as the transplanting stem cells into the ear.

Recent advances and future directions in balance disorders research.

Advancement in understanding of comorbid relationships among the balance disorders, migraine and anxiety will lead to the better treatments.

The effectiveness of canal repositioning manoeuvres for the treatment of positional vertigo (BPPV) offering clinicians’ wide range of possibilities in the development of new technologies.

The development of vestibular prosthesis from re-engineered commercial cochlear implant which provide a means of stimulating the semicircular canals, part of balancing system of the ear. This vestibular prosthesis can be a treatment for Meniere’s disease and other balance disorders.

Hearing aid's and implantable hearing devices

Advancement in the digital technology of hearing aids will provide noise reduction, directional hearing and feedback cancellation. Binaural hearing aids further improve sound direction localization.

Combined use of a hearing aid and a cochlear implant in opposite ears or the same ear helps hearing communication more than either device alone. The use of binaural cochlear implants has improved further directionality and performance in noise.

Experimental cochlear implant is designed with Infrared cochlear nerve stimulation and intra-nerve electrodes offer more precise stimulation of specific nerve sites.

The auditory brainstem implant (ABI) is the more advanced version of cochlear implant as of now, typically used in cases where the auditory nerve has been surgically removed due to tumor growth, such as in people with neurofibromatosis 2 (NF2). It stimulates the part of the brain that processes sound.

Tinnitus

Tinnitus is the abnormal brain activity of auditory and non-auditory areas involved in the perception of sound. Newer therapies will use brain stimulation to treat Tinnitus. The use of vagus nerve stimulation is paired with a variety of tones over an extended period has been effective in the treatment of noise-induced Tinnitus in experimental models.

Auditory processing

Advances in brain imaging along with the behavioural studies of auditory perception about the integration of auditory activity with other sensory systems (balance, movement and body position, vision) and cognitive function (learning, memory, attention) have increased in understanding real-world auditory processing and of various auditory neuropathies.