Regenerative medicine is a promising field of research that could innovate the future of medicine by offering solutions to serious disease and illness.
What Is Regenerative Medicine & How Does It Work?
This branch of medical research comes from translational research in tissue engineering and molecular biology. It refers to the “process of replacing, engineering or regenerating human or animal cells, tissues or organs to restore or establish normal function”.
With the use of regenerative medicine, doctors around the world would be able to restore structure and function of damaged tissues and organs in a natural and safe manner. It has the potential to create solutions for organs that become permanently damaged. The ultimate goal of regenerative medicine is to find a way to cure previously untreatable injuries and diseases. Here are the three most commonly referenced musculoskeletal regenerative medicine therapies and their descriptions:
- Stem cell therapy – Mesenchymal stem cells can differentiate into bone, cartilage, or fat cells to stimulate healing in the body. Intuitively the idea is that stem cells self-propagate into the types of cells needed. However, based on research done, stem cells seem to exert a different effect where they help coordinate and stimulate the body’s own healing process even beyond what PRP is capable of accomplishing.
- Platelet-rich plasma or PRP therapy uses injections of a concentration of a patient’s own platelets to accelerate the healing of injured tendons, ligaments, muscles and joints. In this way, PRP injections use each individual patient’s own healing system to improve musculoskeletal problems. PRP contains a complex array of growth factors. PRP is an injection of potential – the patient must utilize the PRP to its full potential by adjusting their lifestyle, especially with proper exercise, to promote on-going healing beyond PRP which will provide an initial boost to that process.
- Prolotherapy – an injection that contains a potential irritant, such as a dextrose solution. The irritant is thought to trigger the body’s healing response. Once activated, the body will start to strengthen and repair damaged ligaments in the joint. It has been characterized as an alternative medicine practice to treat chronic musculoskeletal conditions.
We have developed protocols that enhance these basic treatments by utilizing combinations of the above treatments and processing the blood, marrow, or fat derived products further using minimally manipulative techniques include photonic cell induction, PRP activation, A2M segregation, platelet lysate, and other protocols that we perform in our advanced regenerative medicine laboratory.
For more information, contact us at www.bellevueprp.com.
