What Is Regenerative Cell Therapy?
Regenerative cell therapy is a type of stem cell therapy that uses human stem cells harvested from the patient, or neo-natal (non-embryonic) umbilical cord blood tissue to restore health or normal function to organs or tissues with these options. At NeuroInterventional Pain Management of Michigan, we use various regenerative cell therapies to treat a wide range of conditions, encouraging natural healing, providing relief from chronic pain and helping our patients achieve a better quality of life.
Regenerative Cell Therapy Treatment Therapies
The breakthrough stem cell therapies we offer include the following:
Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy (PRP)
Platelet rich plasma therapy is a treatment whereby the patient’s own blood is collected, spun in a centrifuge, and then reinjected. This process increases the concentration of platelets in the blood plasma, thereby greatly enhancing the number of growth factors present in the plasma. These factors help facilitate, and often accelerate, healing. PRP is used to treat sports-related injuries such as acute muscle and ligament injuries (e.g. strained knees and pulled hamstring muscles) and chronic tendon injuries (e.g. tennis elbow, jumper’s knee or Achilles tendonitis).[1] Other promising applications include arthritic knee treatments[2] and treatments designed to accelerate post-surgery healing.[3]
Umbilical/Wharton’s Jelly Therapy
Donated by healthy women after a scheduled C-section following a full-term pregnancy, Wharton’s Jelly[4] is a promising therapy that utilizes a variety of beneficial cells that are derived from the connective tissue of the umbilical cord and minimally manipulated before being cryopreserved for localized injection at the site of injury or degeneration, such as in the knee joint[5] or the sciatic nerve.[6] These cells have been demonstrated to possess anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-fibrotic and epithelization capabilities that make them an ideal ortho-biologic healing solution.
SVF Adipose Therapy
Bone marrow (SVF) therapy utilizes Stromal Vascular Fraction, a rich source of adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells and other cell types such as preadipocytes (i.e. undifferentiated fibroblasts), pericytes and endothelial precursor cells that are helpful in improving conditions that involve tissue degeneration, such as osteoarthritis, multiple sclerosis, peripheral neuropathy and Crohn’s disease.[7] These cells can also be used for various additional regenerative applications, including orthopedic applications such as tendon, bone and cartilage regeneration.[8]
What Orthopedic Conditions Can Be Treated Using These Therapies?
Our patients have experienced great success with the above treatments in orthopedic applications such as the following:
Back arthritis/spinal disease
Elbow and hand problems
Hip problems
Knee problems
Neck arthritis/spinal disease
Shoulder problems
Additional Stem Cell Therapy Applications
In addition to orthopedic applications, a number of other conditions have shown promise as candidates for regenerative cell therapy. These include:
Urology: Interstitial cystitis
Cardiac-Pulmonary: Asthma, asthma degenerative disease, lung disease
Neurology: ALS, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, Parkinson’s disease, peripheral neuropathy, stroke
Auto-Immune Diseases: auto-immune hepatitis, Crohn’s disease, lupus, Myasthenia Gravis, relapsing polychondritis, rheumatoid arthritis (RA),
Other: Hair restoration, Lichen Sclerosis
Regenerative Cell Therapy Offers Great Promise for Patients
From PRP and Wharton’s jelly to SVF adipose therapy, regenerative cell therapeutic applications offer great promise for help and improvement of many conditions for our patients. As the emerging field of stem cell therapy for cell regeneration continues to expand and more applications are explored, developed, studied and tested, additional therapies and additional uses for existing therapies will certainly become available. And you can be sure that NeuroInterventional Pain Management will continue to research these therapies and will remain at the forefront of the field, adopting those therapies that hold the most promise for improving our patients’ conditions.
Give us a call to discuss the specific therapy you are considering or to schedule a consultation to learn what our regenerative stem cell therapies may be able to do for you.
Sources:
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)31366-1/fulltext
https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/treatment/platelet-rich-plasma-prp/
https://orthonc.com/your-health/what-is-prp-therapy
https://www.infusio.org/blog/stromal-vascular-fraction/
Links:
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3565396/
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5632954/
[3] https://www.journalofsurgicalresearch.com/article/S0022-4804(16)30334-1/fulltext#sec8
[4] https://stemcellsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/sctm.16-0492
[5] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212628717303237
[6] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28274689
