Things to Know About Stem Cell Treatments

Knee osteoarthritis is a common medical condition in the elderly and the obese. Although there are several treatment options, in recent years, stem cell therapy has been applied in an ever-increasing number of clinical cases. Knee osteoarthritis is a chronic, indolent disease that will affect more and more people every year increasing number of patients. The pain, tenderness and stiffness is caused by degeneration of the cartilage substance inside the knee. Estimates are that by 2030, only in the United States, this medical condition will partially or completely disable 67 million people. Conventional options like physiotherapy or drugs offer only temporary relief of clinical symptoms and can have side effects. A complete healing of normal cartilage function does not come from those treatments alone. In severe cases of knee osteoarthritis total knee replacement may be required. These surgical interventions come together with high effort and costs and are not always successful.

Self-healing of the cartilage can take a prolonged period in those patients lucky enough to be able to produce the healing components. The fluid inside the joint contains mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) which can differentiate into chondrocytes. This newly formed cartilage is very weak as well as soft and can be destroyed with a small amount of stress within the joint. Normally, there are a limited number of MSC’s in the joint at any time.

The purpose of using stem cells is to support the body’s own process to heal the cartilage which will lessen the pain of osteoarthritis relief from OA. Although repairing the cartilage can occur, at the present time there is no permanent cure for osteoarthritis.

The stem cell candidates for use in these therapies are multipotent adult MSCs, because they are available in several tissues. MSCs can be harvested from bone marrow and adipose tissue that the patient with osteoarthritis has. A big advantage in harvesting the treatment substance from the patient themselves is that MSCs and platelet-rich plasma ensures that the patient’s immune system will not reject the cells. After this procedure, it is important that the joint is limited in its’ weight bearing for a period as little as possible because the newly differentiated cartilage is highly susceptible to damage. MSCs treatment offers a quick and relatively uneventful recovery.

The MSC treatment should only be used if the degeneration of the cartilage is not complete. If there is cartilage and joint fluid is available, stem cells can differentiate because of necessary growth factors are present in the joint fluid. In cases where there is bone-on-bone contact, stem cell treatment is not indicated. It is crucial for the patient is to limit physical activity and pressure on the involved joint in the immediate period after the therapy so there can be limited stress on the joint improve the chance of successful recovery. It is common that more than a single session is required to get the amount of cartilage needed to regenerate enough cartilage to accomplish full healing.

Stem Cell Therapy Treatment Las Vegas

Stem cell therapy is the use of stem cells to treat a medical problem or to prevent further deterioration of that problem. Stem cells in bone e marrow was the first type of stem cell therapy utilized. It was used to help the patient with cancers of the blood such as leukemia. Stem cell therapy has been controversial and is apolitically charged topic. The attempt of scientists to isolate and culture embryonic stem cells, to create new stem cells and their use of techniques to create induced pluripotent stem cells has been condemned by those that are worried about people using embryos. This controversy is due to the politics of abortion clinic and their possible sale of embryos as well as concerns about human cloning

Bone marrow transplant is the most widely used stem cell therapy, but some therapies derived from umbilical cord blood as well as from adipose-derived sources are also in use. Research is underway to develop various sources for stem cells. There are many clinical case reports in the treatment of joint problems reported. The main focus in the medical literature of joint issues has been on mesenchymal stem cells. Stem cells are believed to assist in repair via five ways: 1) providing an anti-inflammatory effect, 2) attaching to damaged tissues and then attracting other cells that are necessary for tissue repair, 3) promoting tissue remodeling instead scar formation, 4) inhibiting cell death, and 5) differentiating into different kinds of tissue.

To further enrich blood supply to the damaged areas, and consequently promote tissue regeneration, platelet-rich plasma could be used in conjunction with stem cell transplantation.[74][75] The efficacy of some stem cell populations may also be affected by the method of delivery; for instance, to regenerate bone, stem cells are often introduced in a scaffold where they produce the minerals necessary for generation of functional bone.

We at the Regenerative Medicine Institute of Nevada are proud to say that we offer these new innovative options and have had good success in many individuals that are seeking mesenchymal stem cell therapy. Running the full gamut from platelet-rich plasma (PRP) alone to adding cytokines and growth factors to the PRP, to adipose-derived mesenchymal cells, or mesenchymal cells from a donor, the options available at the Regenerative Medicine Institute of Nevada to potentially treat a diverse patient population so treatments are customized for each patient.

Stem Cell Treatment Las Vegas Garcia

In describing stem cell therapy, the first step is to define and explain what a stem cell actually is. A stem cell is frequently referred to as a “blank” cell. It is capable of changing or growing into another more definitive type of cell in the body, such as a skin cell, a muscle cell, or a nerve cell. A stem cell is microscopic in size and can only be seen under a microscope. Stem cells are exciting news in both medical and scientific circles. These cells they can be used to replace or repair damaged tissues and cells in the body. They can serve as a built-in repair system for the human body, replenishing other cells as long as a person is still alive. A collection of stem cells can be harvested and stored for future use. The stem cell is essentially free of genetic defects and it is so immature in its form that they can be transplanted into people of all types without worrying about rejection such as in a blood transfusion or an organ transplant. Stem cells have the potential to multiply and create more of the same cells, but this can only be done in a lab where culture media and other chemicals are added to promote this growth in numbers. With proper techniques, the stem cells can be caused to mature, forming more definitive cells such as muscle, nerve or liver cells. While still in the early research phase, these techniques show huge promise. Now a patient cannot go to a physician and receive these differentiated cells to treat their medical issues. Although this all sounds like it is brand new, therapy with stem cells has been around for many years. The fist example of stem cell therapy was the treatment of people with blood-system cancer, like leukemia, where they were first treated to kill off all of the diseased cells with chemotherapy and then they received stem cells form a matched donor to replenish the lost cells. These transplanted cells originated from human adult donors or form umbilical blood collected during childbirth.

Using stem cells to repair certain parts of the body is commonly referred to as stem cell therapy or regenerative medicine. Researchers can grow stem cells in a lab for use in clinical trials. There are many clinical trials going on around the world about the potential future uses of stem cells. Practicing physicians can presently do what are referred to as autologous stem cell transplants. In this case, stem cells are collected form the patient and returned to the patient into a specific area in a higher concentration. How this can be performed is through what is commonly referred to as adipose-derived stem cell therapy. In this procedure a small amount of fat, or adipose tissue, is harvested from the person’s body. The fat cells are then separated from the tissue between them that holds the fat cells together. Think of the fat cell being a tile on the floor and the tissue I am referencing is the grout that holds the tiles together. In this case, that grout is called stromal vascular fraction (SVF). It is in the SVF where the stem cells reside. The SVF contains other proteins in it besides just stem cells. These are cytokines, growth factors, and mesenchymal cells. Mesenchymal cells are, like stem cells, multi-potent, and can differentiate into other types of tissue such as cartilage or bone cells. The SVF with its healing properties can be the administered to the patient directly into an injured area such as into a knee joint or given through an intravenous line. In cases such as this, the patient is treated in one day with no manipulation of the cells. It is an autologous transplant, coming from the same person, so there is no risk of rejection or allergy. The SVF provides the elements need for tissues to heal as it contains stem cells, mesenchymal cell, cytokine and growth factors. At the Regenerative Medicine Institute of Nevada we provide SVF therapy as well as Cytokine Growth Factor Therapy with Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) therapy to assist our patients heal from a myriad of different medical problems or acute and chronic injuries.