How Effective Are Your Own Stem Cells and Platelets for Regenerative Medicine?

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Admin

Regenerative medicine is finally becoming a reality in pain management, with initial studies for platelet rich plasma therapy and stem cell injections showing promising results.

By using the patient’s own blood and placing it into a special machine that spins the collection at a high rate of speed, which separates the platelets from the blood

Platelets are great at calling in stem cells for injury repair.

components, Arizona pain management doctors are able to help heal an injured or arthritic joint. The platelets from the person’s blood releases growth factors that improve natural healing of tissue that is damaged or injured.

The platelets are tiny cells in the blood that are critical to healing. They are the body’s main source of tissue growth factors, as the platelets contain thousands of growth factors, necessary for healing. Some of the growth factors that platelets contain include:

Connective tissue growth factor
Epidermal growth factor
Insulin growth factor
Platelet derived growth factor
Vascular endothelial growth factor

These are just some of the growth factors contained in the body’s platelets. The platelets along with the growth factors work together to naturally heal the body in response to injury or degenerative wear-and-tear. When a person’s growth factors are highly concentrated and then re-injected into the body (at the site of injury), a powerful healing response is seen.

Why Use Your Own Stem Cells?

Platelet rich plasma therapy is often used with a fibrin matrix to bridge the gap in extremely damaged tissue, ligaments or tendons. This process allows for new collagen to form and create a matrix along the damaged site. When a person’s own stem cells are used, regeneration occurs and even the most severely damaged tissue can be initiated to heal.

In a person’s own blood there are concentrates of fibrin, platelets and mesenchymal stem cells. Bioactive growth factors are also present in high concentration, but scattered throughout the blood. The key component of platelet rich plasma therapy (PRP) is to spin the concentration of blood so that the growth factors can be separated.

Research shows that using PRP promotes the production of new collagen and rebuilds joint cartilage as well as strengthens injured tendons and ligaments. The rebuilding comes from the introduction of a person’s own stem cells being introduced into the injury site.

PRP Therapy calls in stem cells for regenerative healing.

The concentrated platelets do a great job of “calling in” the body’s stem cells to initiate repair. The new collagen becomes naturally incorporated into the patient’s existing cartilage, ligaments and tendons. The process makes the injury site stronger, thicker, more viable and elastic.

If you have questions regarding how effective it is to use your body’s own stem cells for the healing of damage or injury, seek answers from your stem cell specialist today.

The Arizona Pain Stem Cell Institute offers regenerative medicine treatments including research projects with amniotic derived stem cells, bone marrow derived stem cells and platelet rich plasma therapy. The projects are non-randomized, meaning all patients receive the regenerative medicine treatments. Treatments are industry subsidized and typically cost 40% less than what is typically seen with stem cell treatments.

All treatments at the Institute are performed by Award Winning, Board Certified Scottsdale pain management doctors.

To find out more about the Arizona Pain Stem Cell Institute and potential treatments available to help with your back, neck or extremity pain, call today (602) 507-6550.

Welcome to the Arizona Pain Stem Cell Institute

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Admin

The Arizona Pain Stem Cell Institute is now open and seeing patients!

Arizona Pain Specialists understands that patients want nonsurgical options for pain that are cutting edge and represent the latest in pain management for relief.

The Institute’s mission is to alleviate pain in those suffering by offering regenerative medicine with the hopes of repairing injured tissue rather than simply suppressing pain.
In order to be able to offer the regenerative medicine procedures to as many patients as possible, the Arizona Pain Stem Cell Institute has teamed up with industry to subsidize research studies.

What this means is that in order to receive stem cell injections, patients can expect to pay approximately 40% less for their procedures than elsewhere.

Research Studies with Stem Cell Injections

Initially, the Stem Cell Institute is beginning two prospective studies with two more to follow. Study #1 = The initial study will be evaluating amniotic derived stem cell rich injections into spinal joints for treating back and neck pain.

Pilot studies have shown that treating facet arthritis with stem cell injections works well.

Arizona Pain Stem Cell Institute offers research projects and other regenerative medicine treatments.

However, this study will include larger numbers with the material to obtain statistical significance.

The material being used in this study is amniotic fluid derived and obtained from consenting donors. It is processed at an FDA regulated lab and cryogenically stored until the injection.

The study will not be randomized, so every patient will receive the regenerative medicine substance. Follow-up will be for six months and all of the procedures are being performed at the Scottsdale location of Arizona Pain Specialists.

Study #2 = The second research study being started at the Arizona Pain Stem Cell Institute is also with the amniotic derived stem cell rich injection substance, but this study involves stem cell injections into extremity joints.

The study will evaluate the effect of the stem cell injections on arthritis pain in the shoulder, hip, knee and sacroiliac joint. Study parameters are very similar in that the follow-up is six months, and the study is being industry subsidized so patients can expect to pay out-of-pocket approximately 40% less than in other places.

Additional Procedures at the Stem Cell Institute

Bone Marrow Derived Stem Cell Injections

Additional procedures being offered at the Stem Cell Institute include bone marrow derived stem cell injections. These are performed as an outpatient and involve harvesting bone marrow from the patient’s iliac crest. The bone marrow is then spun in a centrifuge and then injected into the target area at the same setting.

Platelet Rich Plasma Treatment (PRP Therapy)

Platelet rich plasma therapy has been shown to help considerably for numerous musculoskeletal conditions such as knee arthritis, tennis elbow, rotator cuff tendonitis, achilles and ligament injuries. This involves a simple blood draw just like in the lab and the blood is then spun in a centrifuge. The result is a heavily concentrated solution of platelets and growth factors which are injected into the target area.

The Arizona Pain Stem Cell Institute is preparing a similar Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy study evaluating the treatment for both spinal arthritis for the back and neck along with extremity injections for arthritis pain. This will also be a non-randomized, industry subsidized study. Patients can expect to pay 40% less than typically charged at other clinics.

Studies to date with bone marrow derived stem cell injections and platelet rich plasma therapy have shown impressive outcomes in small reports. Three professional sports leagues have approved the use of PRP and many athletes have received the treatments including Tiger Woods, Troy Polamolu, Hines Ward and Dwight Howard to name a few.
All the procedures at the Arizona Pain Stem Cell Institute are performed by Board Certified pain management doctors in Arizona.

To find out more information about the Arizona Pain Stem Cell Institute and if treatment can help your pain, or your loved ones, call (602) 507-6550 today!

Long Term Study Shows High BMI a Risk Factor for Low Back Pain

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Admin

An 11 year study recently completed showed that being overweight or obese are predisposing factors for the development of chronic low back pain. The study was revelation in that those who developed low back pain did not have the presence of the pain at the beginning of the study. This means the extra weight lead to the back pain, which is a breakthrough finding.

The researchers out of Norway were able to show definitively that a high body mass index was a risk factor for low back pain. They had a very high number of participants, over 25,000, and were able to use statistical analysis to rule out other risk factors.

The study population was extremely large and had over 14,000 women in over 11,000 men aged 30 to 70 years old. The risk factors that were also looked at included age, smoking, blood pressure, work status, education and physical activity. Not only was there a strong correlation between high body mass index and low back pain, there was also a correlation between recurrent low back pain among women.

In previous studies, it was unclear which problem came first. It could’ve been either low back pain causing a person to develop a high body mass index or vice versa. By studying such a large amount of patients for over a decade, they were able to definitively show that it is in fact the high body mass index that leads to low back pain and the recurrence of that pain.

If you are suffering from low back pain, let Arizona Pain Specialists help you. The Phoenix pain clinics offer comprehensive treatment including medication management, interventional pain management, acupuncture, chiropractic, spinal decompression therapy, physical rehabilitation and more. Over 50 insurance plans are accepted.

Call (602) 507-6550 today.