Stem cell injections?

Loretta

new member
Joined
Nov 10, 2009
Messages
13
Location
United States
Has anyone had experience with stem cell injections for building cartilage in arthritic knees? I've been visiting a few local clinic websites that provide such injections, but results have been mixed.
 
Very mixed! We have some articles in the Library (obviously you haven't found that yet!)
Stem cells from jaw bone help repair damaged cartilage
Stem Cell treatment for femoral head necrosis

The short answer to this is that this treatment is only really effective when there is minimal damage to the cartilagenous lining of the joint. But this is only in the period before the patient even realises they have a problem!
A bit of a 'cart before the horse' issue!

cart before the horse.jpg
 
My 30 year old nephew is considering having this done. I've done a little research prior to my knee replacement and it seems iffy to me but I didn't do a whole lot of research due to figuring out fairly early on I would not meet the neccessary criteria. While I'm sure the rules differ from clinic to clinic, it seems I would have had to be a whole lot younget and thinner than I had to be to qualify for knee replacement. I spent a couple of years looking into every other possibility than knee replacement. Like many of us, I've had the steriod shots, the synvisc, physical therapy and lost weight. I checked out stem cells and anything else I could think of. Talked to 2 people who had the stem cells injections done. One had some relief but not enough, the other thought it did no good at all for him.

In the end, the pain got bad enough and i decided to bite the bullet and reluctantly go for the knee replacement. Almost 6 months later, I'm back to a normal life and glad I had it done. It was intense at first and recovery is rough and longer than I expected but I will be 6 months out in a week and i have a totally normal life again. I climb stairs, I walk around for hours. In the end, it was what i needed, but it took me a long while to be ready to accept that. Good luck in your journey wherever it takes you. I in no way want suggest that you need your knee replaced just because I did.
 
Thank you Josephine and Happy New Year! I did read your opinion about stem cell therapy, and library articles. However, a growing number of clinics in South Carolina where I live are claiming success with this treatment for knees. They do say that results are highly individual, some patients having no relief at all, some with moderate relief, and some with remarkable pain relief. Regenexx is one company that claims to have invented stem cell procedures.

This may not be a treatment for everyone, but I think this may become a very promising future option. According to my GP, more testing and research is needed.
 
I'm afraid you may find more and more clinics advertising this type of treatment because it is a good money maker. The injections are very expensive and not usually covered by insurance. Pain relief is not well supported with studies, so if you decide to have this type of treatment, please know that the chances for measurable and lasting relief are modest at best. We have had one or two forum members who felt this treatment was beneficial, but the vast majority don't find much relief other than a lighter wallet.
 
Has anybody had the opportunity to check a company Regenexx and their unique way of doing stem cell injections for the knee. They say they have a 90% something successful repair rate.
 
@Garter - they may claim a 90% success rate but if you read Josephine's input above, this can only be done if the damage to the cartilage is very minimal. This would mean the patient didn't even have symptoms yet.
 
Thanks for pointing that out. I missed the post from Larreta.
 
I have some indirect experience of adult adipose stem cell therapy: you'll like this.

My old gent Labrador, Ben, suffers terribly from arthritis and we were referred to one of only two vets in the UK who were providing the service (at the time of referral) - one is the Supervet himself (who was actually late to the party). Ben had several injections and although he didn't have the miraculous results seen in many dogs, he did get significant improvement and the treatment probably delayed the now-apparent serious decline by perhaps a year. He had a second treatment but we saw far less improvement, and as the insurance wasn't covering it and we had already spent £6,000 on it, we simply couldn't afford another round.

However, while researching the treatments I did quite a bit of reading and discovered that it is a common treatment for expensive race horses, and is routinely used on professional football players in Australia. If it's safe and effective enough to use on people and animals that are such expensive investments then it can't be a high risk treatment. We're just starting to see it rolled out a bit more in the UK, and it is even available on NHS at one or two hospitals who have pioneered the work.

I asked my GP and surgeon about the potential for my own knee but it was clear from their reaction that I was a long way past only having soft tissue/cartilage damage. The potential is there though and hopefully now that they have identified the many areas that can be treated with patient-sourced stem cells, thus avoiding any big ethical concerns, perhaps we'll see it embraced and further researched with real patients.
 
Dear Oomworthy,
Your reply was very interesting, and I appreciate all your research. I agree that if expensive race horses and professional athletes are receiving stem cell injections, they must be safe. I'm hopeful that this may help many suffering with joint pain in the future. Like you, my doctor says my knee is too far gone to consider stem cell injections. Here in the U.S. insurance does not cover the cost. Hopefully, that will change with time. Meanwhile, I'll continue the conservative knee treatment my doctor recommends.

Thank you for your reply.
 
I do hope that in the future using stem cells will be common place and "covered" by our health care system. I could never pay for it OOP. Don't think it will happen in my lifetime, sadly.
 

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