Types of Regenerative Therapies
RENEWING HOPE Regenerative Medicine Upends Traditional Prognoses
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by Patricia Staino Center offers platelet-rich plasma (PRP) f you think self-generation of new and stem cell injections to treat acute or cells, organs and body parts is just the chronic pain conditions related to degenstuff of superhero movies, think again. Pioneering research in regenerative medierative spinal discs, joints, muscles, tendons cine renews hope for us all, harnessing the and ligaments. “Recently, it has gained power of our own biological make-up to quite a bit of momentum, moving from an one day make us all super-beings. area of anecdotal medicine to more of an Regenerative medicine is an emergevidence-based approach. Its main premise ing branch of medicine in which therapies lies in a reparative approach in which your are applied to help cells and tissues heal, own body potentially rebuilds/heals its own tissue versus the traditional prior approach repair and regenerate themselves. Origiof using steroid-based therapy aimed at nally focused on using the body’s own decreasing inflammation.” cells and functions to heal itself, research The goal of regenerative medicine is to now includes growing tissues and organs heal injured tissue rather than just masking for transplant in cases where that’s not the pain. While stem cells from embryos, possible. It is found at the crossroads of adult tissues and reprogrammed differentitissue engineering and molecular biolated cells are used to generate increasingly ogy, and includes treatments such as stem sophisticated engineered tissues, we can cell therapy, platelet-rich plasma (PRP), better understand its application on a much medical devices and artificial organs, tismore granular level, in stem cell and PRP sue engineering and biomaterials. While injections, particularly for bone, joint and some of its trials are a long way from muscle repair to end chronic pain. being available at local hospitals, many “Regenerative therapy that utilizes the treatments—particularly those that treat patient’s own blood or stem cells and other muscle and joint complaints and resulting biologic options can be considered as an pain—are available from specially trained interventional option for musculoskeletal medical practitioners in the U. S. “Regenerative medicine is likely the injuries, joint pain and back pain,” says breath of fresh air that has emerged in pain Roshni N. Patel, MD, medical director at medicine,” says Rajat Sekhar, MD, interven- the Center of Excellence in Pain & tional pain physician with Greenwich HosRegenerative Medicine in Farmington. pital’s Center for Pain Management. The Patel has reinvented how she treats pain, 20 Hartford County Edition
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Many types of treatments, therapies and devices collect under the umbrella term of “regenerative medicine.” While the idea of engineering skin tissue and other biomaterials has a certain cool factor, it’s much more relevant to look at less invasive therapies currently available to patients. These include injections and biologics that stimulate cell and tissue repair and regrowth, often used to treat muscle and joint pain, but which have shown results in treating hair loss and erectile dysfunction, among other conditions. Stem Cell Therapy The Mayo Clinic website refers to stem cell therapy as the “next chapter in organ transplantation and uses cells instead of donor organs.” However, there’s more to stem cell therapy than growing organs outside the body. “Our body has more than 200 different types of cells; not all are stem cells,” says Steven Geoffrion, co-owner of Optimum Regenerative Care in Bethel. The regenerative medicine clinic uses stem cells and other therapies to treat degenerative joint conditions, back pain, arthritis, peripheral neuropathy, plantar fasciitis, anti-aging issues and whole-body wellness. “Stem cells are called the ‘master cells’ of the body because they are in charge of healing and repair. The very reason we age is because we lose stem cells as we get older.” These “master cells” can transform into different types of cells to replace dying cells and repair damaged tissue. Stem cells can be derived from umbilical cords of healthy babies and moms, as in the treatments offered at Geoffrion’s clinic, but can also be derived from an individual’s own bone marrow: During the stem cell procedure, bone marrow is collected from the patient, which takes just a couple of minutes. Those cells are isolated with a
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using procedures designed to provide longterm benefits and prevent surgery as well as help patients recover faster from surgery.
