Knee Stem Cell Treatment

What is knee stem cell treatment?

This is an alternative to most of the traditional approaches to knee joint pain treatment. The advantage of this treatment is that it

Stem cells are found throughout our body and they can:

• Divide and multiply themselves
• Develop into different types of cells. They don’t serve a specific function but they can develop into cells that do.

If these cells are placed in a certain environment, they transform themselves to suit that environment. For instance, stem cells placed near a damaged cartilage will develop into a cartilage tissue later on.

The common type of stem cells used for treating arthritis is called Mesenchymal Stem Cells. They are usually collected from a patient’s fat, blood or bone marrow. This process of collecting stem cells is called Harvesting. The different harvesting techniques are:

• Adipose stem cells are harvested using surgery or liposuction
• Peripheral blood stem cells are harvested from the bloodstream from the patient’s blood sample.
• Bone Marrow stem cells are harvested from the patient’s bones.

This treatment basically extracts stem cells from an area of high density and then injecting them into the damaged is to help heal the body naturally.

Who needs this?
There is no medical guideline for who should receive stem cell treatments that is left to the patients and doctors to decide.

Some cases that have been considered for stem cell therapy are:

• Patients with mild-moderate arthritis
• Young patients with mild osteoarthritis or cartilage damage
• Healthy patients with relatively less cartilage damage

Some of the common knee injuries and conditions that can be treated with stem cells are:

• Arthritis / Osteoarthritis
• MCL, ACL, PCL and LCL tears and sprains
• Patellofemoral Syndrome
• Meniscus Tear
• Knee Instability
• Traumatic knee injury

Pre- procedure

The procedure is usually performed on the same day. The cells are harvested and re-injected the same day. Some patients might prefer a series of injections over a period of a week. The procedure includes:

• Pre-injection
• Same-day stem extraction
• Re-injection Procedure
• Post-injection of multiple proprietary platelet mixes a few days later.

Blood is taken from a vein in your arm and this is processed in a lab with the stem cell sample.

The Procedure

• The doctor will numb the back of the hip and take a small bone-marrow stem cell sample through a needle.
• The stem cells are sent for processing in the laboratory and the patient will be asked to rest.
• Once the stem cells are processed, the doctor will re-inject the stem cells and natural growth factors from the patient’s blood platelets to the damaged area. This is done using advanced imaging guidance techniques like, Real time Fluoroscopy or muscoskeletal ultrasound, which pinpoints the exact location of the injection and also the dispersion of cells into the tissues.
• These platelets are injected again after 3-5 days to activate and promote additional healing.                                                                                                                                                                                           

Treatment

Dr Banarji B.H,  Best Orthopedic Specialist provides Treatment for Knee Stem Cell.