Stem Cell Therapy
The ultimate hope is that the stem-cell injections will preserve or at least decrease symptoms in joints to avoid more invasive surgeries - Sumathi Reddy
image by: Darrow Stem Cell Institute
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Stem Cell Treatments Flourish With Little Evidence That They Work
Many people have become captivated by the idea of using stem cells to fix their damaged joints, and some claim to have been helped.
But there is no clear evidence that these treatments work, and their safety has yet to be established. Most researchers, including those at the National Institutes of Health, think that efforts to sell therapies involving adult stem cells, which can develop into different types of cells to replenish tissue, have gotten way ahead of the science.
Even so, hundreds of clinics have popped up around the country to meet the demand.
Resources
Stem Cells for Knee Problems? U.S. Doctors Investigate
Demand is high from patients with osteoarthritis, meniscus tears and other maladies, but studies haven’t reached firm conclusions yet.
Stem cell treatments for arthritic knees are unproven, expensive and potentially dangerous
So while a quick internet search may find clinics that offer stem cell treatments for cartilage injuries that cost thousands of dollars - and are almost always not covered by insurance - I strongly recommend that consumers remember the concept of “buyer beware” and that medical providers remember the Hippocratic principle: “first do no harm.”
Employers are steering workers toward a controversial stem cell therapy
AMidwestern grocery chain, Hy-Vee, is taking an unusual — and highly controversial — approach to reducing health care costs. Before employees in certain cities can undergo knee replacement, they first must visit a stem cell provider.
Hope For Those Aching Joints
At long last, there seems to be real hope in rebuilding damaged articular cartilage. Researchers from the University of Southampton recently discovered a new method to generate cartilage tissue from stem cells.
How we set about mending damaged knees with stem cells
We eventually found a way to do this by placing them in a membrane made from collagen and inserting the stem cell-collagen combination into the tear. Over a few weeks the stem cells migrated into the surrounding meniscus and then the collagen degrades away, allowing healing across the tear boundary.
New stem cell operation could revolutionise treatment of knee injuries
Operation being trialled at Southampton hospital involves coating damaged cartilage with stem cells from patient's hip.
Peek inside a lab growing cartilage to repair bum knees
Here in this hotspot for unregulated stem cell clinics, you don’t have to drive far to find a doctor offering unproven treatments for a bum knee involving stem cells derived from a patient’s own fat.
Real-world evidence of mesenchymal stem cell therapy in knee osteoarthritis: a large prospective two-year case series
This case series of 329 participants further adds supportive RWE with long-term outcome data confirming ADMSC therapy to be well-tolerated, safe and result in clinically significant improvements in pain and functional clinical end points.
Scientists engineer nasal cartilage cells to repair aching knees
Our research indicates that this engineered cartilage not only is capable of regenerating cartilage tissue, but it also is resistant to inflammation signals, which are typically very high and strong in a degenerated joint like the ones in patients suffering from osteoarthritis. So this cartilage is actually able to counteract it, to reduce inflammation in the joint.
Stem Cell Treatment Is Turning Out To Be A Promising Therapy for Arthritis
The jury is still out on whether stem cell therapy can cure arthritis, but recent research has shown that stem cells implanted in arthritic cartilage can produce healthy cells to replace defective tissue.
Stem cell treatments for arthritic knees
Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are emerging as an attractive option for osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee joint, due to their marked disease-modifying ability and chondrogenic potential. MSCs can be isolated from various organ tissues, such as bone marrow, adipose tissue, synovium, umbilical cord blood, and articular cartilage with similar phenotypic characteristics but different proliferation and differentiation potentials.
The First Legit Study of Stem Cells and Arthritis Had Surprising Results
So what now? This kind of stem cell therapy to treat osteoarthritic pain has been deemed safe based on Shapiro's FDA-approved, well-designed clinical study. But we don't know how well it works compared to saline, or whether it works at all. It's possible, after all, that it was the placebo effect at play.
The Meniscus Tear: A Review of Stem Cell Therapies
Meniscal injuries have posed a challenging problem for many years, especially considering that historically the meniscus was considered to be a structure with no important role in the knee joint. This led to earlier treatments aiming at the removal of the entire structure in a procedure known as a meniscectomy. However, with the current understanding of the function and roles of the meniscus, meniscectomy has been identified to accelerate joint degradation significantly and is no longer a preferred treatment option in meniscal tears. Current therapies are now focused to regenerate, repair, or replace the injured meniscus to restore its native function.
Stem Cell Treatments Flourish With Little Evidence That They Work
The F.D.A. has taken an industry-friendly approach toward companies using unproven cell cocktails to treat people desperate for relief from aging or damaged joints.
Regenexx
Regenexx is a provider network doing procedural based care. We pioneered the use of orthopedic bone marrow concentrate to treat common orthopedic conditions to help people avoid surgery using cells from their own body.
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