Continued hawking by commercial interests to an apparently uncritical group of healthcare providers and the willingness of patients to accept scientifically unfounded statements has made the utterance “I had stem cells” increasingly commonplace. I can not begin to tell you how much time I dedicate to explaining and debunking the myth that a patient can receive a “stem cell” injection at this time.
Stem Cells are found in almost every organ and tissue in the body but to be FDA compliant, those stem cells can not be separated from your Bone Marrow, Adipose Tissue or Circulating Blood and used in a clinical setting for an arthritic condition. As you might have read in my blog last week, a clinical trial is waiting to be approved that might make it possible to offer millions of stem cells for the care and treatment of arthritis but approval has not yet been granted by governmental regulatory bodies. As such, the use of Biologics continues to be based on concentrated Autologous Bone Marrow Aspirate, Micro-Fractured Adipose Tissue or the recovery and concentration and separation by filtration of Growth Factor Proteins from your circulating blood.
I have published major scientific studies based on the clinical outcomes of both Bone Marrow Concentrate and Micro-Fractured Adipose Tissue for the treatment of the arthritic knee. I am one of the few clinicians who has studied the effects of Bone Marrow Concentrate in Grades 2 and 3 Osteoarthritis of the knee and Micro-Fractured Adipose Tissue for Grades 3 and 4 Osteoarthritis of the knee. A third scientific trial, this one reporting the results of using Bone Marrow Concentrate in the bone supporting the arthritic knee joint (subchondroplasty) is in progress; while the preliminary ground work for a fourth publication reviewing outcomes of growth factors for arthritic joints who do not meet the inclusion criteria for other biologics is being developed.
In response to your belief that you had a stem cell injection; my response, “no you didn’t.” In most settings, it was a Platelet Rich Plasma injection; and that discussion will have to wait for another Blog as PRP warrants a separate discussion.
To schedule a consultation, call (312) 475-1893. You may visit my web site at sheinkopmd.com