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Mercy’s Dr. Mark Myerson examines patient Susan Cossabone after her surgery with Allostem to regrow bone in her ankle

Mercy's Dr. Mark Myerson Uses Allostem To Rebuild Ankle Bone In Patient

Researchers in Maryland are using stem cells from fat to grow new bone.

In January 2009, 53-year-old Susan Cossabone was in a terrible head-on collision. Her injuries made her fear that she'd never walk again, much less ride her beloved horses at her horse farm in New Jersey.

"I thought I would lose the leg. If you could have seen it when they cut off my favorite jeans -- you could just see bones sticking and flesh. You couldn't see much of a leg," she explained.

For a while, it looked as though her leg would require amputation, doctors said. But Cossabone finally saw Dr. Mark Myerson, Director, Institute for Foot and Ankle Reconstruction at Mercy, who gave her a different diagnosis.

"When you have limited blood circulation coming to the bone -- limited capacity for healing and limited ability for the body to produce new bone -- we have to stimulate it," he said.

According to Dr. Myerson, he used Allostem on Ms. Cossabone. Allostem is a product made from stem cells extracted from fat from a cadaver, and those cells are electronically manipulated to develop into bone.

"It's a collagen sponge onto which stem cells have been attached. When you implant that sponge in the body, it will produce bone," he explained.

Cossabone said since then, she's gotten some of her strength back.

"I'm getting on my feet 15-20 minutes at a stretch and teaching in the ring again," she said.

She'll also have to wear a small lift in one shoe. Her goal is to be released to get back on her horses.

Mercy foot and ankle surgeon Dr. John Campbell appeared live in WBAL-TV11’s studios to discuss Allostem and the treatment of ankle arthritis; view his interview via this link: http://www.wbaltv.com/video/28925946/detail.html