Special Announcement - Now Screening for FDA Approved Stem Cell Study
Dr. Mitchell Sheinkop has completed training and is credentialed for an FDA-approved stem cell clinical trial for knee arthritis. Our clinic is now screening patients for this trial. Contact us at 312-475-1893 for details. Click here to learn more.

Cellular Orthopedics: How long will it take to enjoy the benefits?

How long will the benefits last?

Yesterday, an individual presented in the office on a professional matter for a scheduled business meeting and during our discussions, related that he had undergone right hip arthroscopy, eight weeks earlier. He had an antalgic (painful) gait while walking into the meeting room so I discussed the rationale for undergoing a Platelet Rich Plasma concentrate/Growth Factor Concentrate intervention when he returned to his home base. The individual elected to become my patient on the spot so I performed a physical assessment and noted asymmetrical hip motion with limitation on the right side. His pre-arthroscopic diagnosis was a torn acetabular labrum. In 45 minutes, my team had drawn his blood and prepared the concentrated injectate followed by my completing an ultrasound guided intraarticular right hip injection. Within five minutes, his inability to fully spread his legs, flex and extend his hip, and tolerate internal and external rotation had been corrected. This is not an infrequent observation following a Cellular Orthopedic intervention to the hip; yet I have no explanation for the immediate pain relief and return of joint function. He left the office with almost no discernable limp.

This past Monday, the office received this communication from a patient who began treatment with Bone Marrow Concentrate to her knees about four years ago; returning on several occasions until she reached maximum medial improvement at 18 months post intervention.

“I wanted to write to you and Dr Sheinkop to congratulate you on the published study in the Journal of Translational Medicine in which I was a participant. It is really satisfying to see that results finally in print.  I want to thank you both for allowing me to participate, even though I was outside of the Chicago area. 

Just to follow up, my knees have been doing really well for the past year. I enjoyed a long summer of bicycling, including regular 20-30 mile rides as well as a 40 and 50-mile ride, without significant pain. I also have been able to use the elliptical pain free and just in the past two weeks I started running on the treadmill (alternating one minute of running & walking for about 20-25 minutes on a 4% incline). I’m starting really slow -but I never thought I would be able to run relatively pain-free again”.

There is no way of predicting how soon and for how long a cellular orthopedic intervention will have an effect. Our ongoing outcomes observations for over six years may eventually help answer the question; but in the meantime, we ask our patients to return periodically so we may learn from them and intervene if needed.

To learn how you may benefit from a Cellular Orthopedic intervention schedule a consultation by calling (847)-390-7666.  My web site is at www.sheinkopmd.com.

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Chicken Soup for Arthritis or Micro-Fractured Adipose Tissue

Chicken Soup for Arthritis or Micro-Fractured Adipose Tissue

You may recall from my last several Blogs that The American Journal of Orthopedics published my paper in November: Safety and Efficacy of Micro-Fractured Adipose Tissue for Knee Arthritis. While surfing the internet this morning, I noted that many physicians are labeling the procedure a source of stem cells; it is not. 

Lipogems is now U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved for use in Orthopedics. The proprietary name is applied to a Micro-fragmented Adipose Tissue Transplant System that was the technology I introduced and monitored in a scientific clinical trial dating back three years leading to the publication. Federal regulators have now cleared the way for the device and technology that uses a patient’s own body fat (known clinically as adipose tissue) to assist in the healing process. Lipogems is attractive to orthopedic physicians because it is compliant with the latest FDA guidelines and is cleared for use in orthopedics. Unfortunately, clinics and physicians are erroneously, describing the procedure as a source of stem cells; I will emphasize again it is not. Even the Lipogems company uses term reparative and not regenerative. 

The Power of Fat 

When I grew up, my grandmother and mother fed me chicken soup for whatever ailed me. Many patients are looking for another option to major invasive surgery. Fat has many important cells and is easy to get from the patient’s body. Micro fragmented adipose tissue may be an option for patients who have tried physical therapy, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or steroid injections, and other treatments that have not provided enough relief.

In November 2017, the FDA finalized its rules guiding the use of Human Cellular and Tissue Products.  The Agency reaffirmed that the Lipogems system meets the new guidelines’ criteria for minimal manipulation of the tissue, and that it is intended for homologous use. “Fat has been used for many years in support of the repair or replacement of damaged or injured tissue,” according to Dr. Arnold Caplan of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. “Fat has a high concentration of reparative cells and is a very powerful tissue. How the fat is processed makes a huge difference on the quality of the tissue and if it meets the new FDA guidelines.”

To schedule an evidence-based consultation for your arthritic joint, call (312) 475-1893.

You may access my website at  www.sheinkopmd.com

If you schedule before the end of the year, I will share my wife’s chicken soup recipe on request

 

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What does Dr. Mitchell Sheinkop have in common with Kobe Bryant?

What does Dr. Mitchell Sheinkop have in common with Kobe Bryant?

For one, to the best of my knowledge, he doesn’t ski but I did earn a letter as a member of the Roosevelt High, basketball team. No, the common ground is the fact that we both have undergone a similar intervention for osteoarthritis of the knee. Six years or so before Bryant’s retirement, he traveled to Dusseldorf, Germany to undergo an orthobiologic intervention for an arthritic knee that was threatening to prematurely end his playing career. That orthobiologic intervention was unavailable at the time in the United States; but professional athletes were traveling to Dusseldorf to help prolong their careers. I closely followed the outcomes and was amazed to see Kobe Bryant’s return to professional basketball following his procedure for five more years, given he had stage four Osteoarthritis of his knee. His knee X-Ray was available on the internet. At the same time, I postponed my surgical procedures knowing that both of my knees and both of my hips were problematic, waiting for access to a treatment similar to that which the professional athletes were having in Europe. Last September, as an invited speaker at the Russian Orthopedic Society annual meeting, I was able to gain access to the treatment regimen very much available by now in Western Europe and Great Britain. My hope was to partake in a family ski vacation from February 17 to 24. On December 27, I underwent biologic intervention into both of my knees; and on January 11, both of my hips.

On Saturday, I returned from a ski week in Vail, including my wife, three children, one daughter-in-law and five grandchildren. Two other spouses don’t ski. I skied six consecutive days with my wife, children and at times, grandchildren. It was an opportunity for returning to the thrilling days of yesteryear as far as skiing was concerned, made possible by Orthobiologics.  Imagine, three months ago I was experiencing painful limitations in both hips and in both knees; now I am planning a return four-day skiing visit at the end of March to catch the spring powder. I don’t know if I can help you ski; but I can help you overcome limitations imposed by arthritic joints.

Citing Oliver Wendel Holmes; “We do not quit playing because we grow old; we grow old because we quit playing”.

To learn more visit:      www.ilcellulartherapy.com  or call for an appointment   312 475 1893

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FDA Compliant Therapies

For those who may have missed it, I was featured Monday night in a Fox 32 news report presented by Fox News investigative reporter Sylvia Perez.

http://www.fox32chicago.com/health/customers-warn-that-doctors-are-scamming-patients-with-fake-stem-cell-claims

Regular readers of my Blog are aware of the opinions I have frequently expressed regarding the charlatans and camp followers that have taken advantage of the regenerative medicine marketplace promising to cure arthritis, Alzheimer’s, Alopecia, ALS, Autism, and every malady known to mankind finally ending at the letter Z. They don’t exclude spinal cord injury, residuals of stroke nor ED while they are at it. The message regarding what stem cells can do is found in newspaper ads, television commercials and radio spots, the latter in the Chicago listening area by a well-known sports announcer. Either attend a seminar or make an appointment for treatment; they will cure your disease, eliminate pain and do away with your suffering. “Call now to schedule an appointment”.

For a free lunch and without an evaluation or examination, you can undergo an amniotic fluid intervention that is “regenerative” as it is claimed, at a cost in the neighborhood of $5,000. I have been involved in amniotic fluid clinical trials for four years underwritten by the largest provider of amniotic fluid in the nation; and our first statement to participants in these clinical trials, without charge for the injectate, is that there are no living stem cells in the amniotic fluid once processed, sterilized, frozen and fast thawed for usage. Hold on, there is more. On September 16, 2017 the FDA published mandatory guidelines: any and all regenerative agents must be autologous and homologous. In plain speak the injectate must come from the same patient and be used as nature intended. Stem cells from donor sources are not compliant.

Featured in the Fox News special report are two patients. One had undergone a complete medical history, physical examination and skeletomuscular evaluation prior to his Cellular Orthopedic intervention enjoying a marvelous outcome; the other, an amniotic fluid injection into his knee without any prior evaluation or preparation and an awful end result. You may watch the actual report by clicking on that underscored above.

One of the standard of practice methodologies in which we take great pride and which I believe separates us from the madding crowd of regenerative medicine camp followers and charlatans; is our evidence based cellular orthopedic approach.  In preparation for a scientific podium presentation in two weeks, we are collating our outcomes data at one year for patients who underwent a combined intraarticular (into the knee) and intraosseous (into the subchondral bone) autologous bone marrow and growth factor intervention for osteoarthritis grades two and three. At six weeks, we recorded a 22% improvement in pain relief; 42% at six months, and 89% at 12 months. In future blogs, I will breakdown the outcomes data further and expand on our documented outcomes based on our several cellular orthopedic options.

To learn more, you may review my web site and watch my webinar at www.ILcellulartherapy.com

You may schedule a consultation by calling (312) 475-1893

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Update on the Cellular Orthopedic intervention to my knees

Update on the Cellular Orthopedic intervention to my knees

If you read my blog posting last week, you would have learned that I personally underwent a cellular orthopedic intervention to both of my knees on Wednesday, 12/27. The symptoms attributable to my own osteoarthritis had progressed to a degree that I was becoming limited in my recreational profile. While there indeed was a response to anti-inflammatory medications, every time I am reminded of the potential complications of NSAIDS, I become medication adverse. This led to the injection into both of my knees of an Autologous Protein Concentrate (APC) with the hope of treating my pain and slowing the progression of cartilage degradation and destruction of my knees.

The process used was a cell-concentration system which concentrated my own anti-inflammatory cytokines and anabolic growth factors. Pioneered in Europe, an ever-increasing number of professional athletes have been prolonging their careers by accessing this treatment. I have waited over five years for the Autologous Protein Concentrate methodology to become available in the United States; three weeks ago, I was granted access. To date, my pain secondary to knee osteoarthritis is not only reduced but gone; I can only hope it stays that way. My function is significantly improved as evidenced by an ability to have pursued my fly fishing passion chasing bone fish with my wife, daughter-in-law and son for three days in Ascension Bay, Mexico, over the New Year weekend.  For those unfamiliar, bone fishing requires a continued down and up to a platform on the front of a three-man boat with prolonged standing while balancing. At times, I climbed out of the boat and waded through the flats for 30 to 45-minute intervals until it was time to change locations. Since returning home on January 1, I have been able to return to my fitness profile without restriction previously afforded by my Osteoarthritis generated symptoms and limitations.

As in any and all treatments, a patient must be given informed consent and be warned both of the benefits and risks; so, I will let you in on an adverse event in my early outcome. Owing to the increased activity attributable to the diminution of my pain and increased functional capacity resulting from my initial response to the Autologous Protein Concentrate intervention, instead of climbing down from the fly fishing platform in the front of our boat when it was time to trade places with my wife, I jumped down. In so doing, I kicked the rod holding rack and fractured the fifth toe on my left foot, the pinky toe. Though a bit of a nuisance, it is not too great a price to pay for the relief and improved function of my knees.

To learn more, call my office and schedule an appointment; as I haven’t yet updated my web site with an explanation of the Autologous Protein Concentrate intra-articular injection for treatment of knee osteoarthritis (312) 475-1893.

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