Is Stem Cell Joint Therapy A Cure For Arthritic Knees? You Decide
There are a lot of clinics in this country that currently offer stem cell joint therapy. However, you should know that this is not an FDA-approved treatment, which is also why your medical insurance will not cover it. There is also quite the debate as to whether or not it actually works. Even greater of a debate is whether or not it cures arthritic knees. If you want to know if it will work for your knees, here is the 411 that will help you decide for yourself.
No Formal Studies, Just Patient Reports
There have been no formal studies on the use of stem cells to treat or cure arthritis in the knees. What does exist is several hundred reports of patients who have had this treatment, and are now without pain. If you talk to any one of those patients, you may decide that the treatment could help you.
You Have to Go Through a Procedure to Extract Stem Cells from Your Own Body
Since only your own stem cells from marrow, fat, or blood can be used for this treatment, you have to go through one of three processes to get enough stem cells for the treatment. The best results are in patients who chose the bone marrow approach, but extracting bone marrow is a very painful surgical procedure unto itself. Usually, the marrow is taken from a hole drilled into your hip bone, but the temporary hip pain may be a decent trade-off for reduced or no pain in your knees.
Fat extraction has an added benefit, since you will need liposuction to extract enough fat to get enough stem cells. Hip and abdominal fat is a favorite target for this procedure because that is where people carry the most fat tissue. Removing the fat tissue may also help with some of the strain on your knees.
Extracting stem cells from blood is the easiest approach, since all you have to do is donate blood. The downside however, is that the stem cells taken from blood are not numerous and not likely to be as effective as marrow or fat. Most doctors who perform stem cell therapy prefer marrow over any other substance.
Doctors Know the Most about Knee Treatments
Even though there have been no formal studies yet, doctors know the most about the treatment's effects on knees because it has been the one treatment completed most often. There are actually studies on cartilage regeneration from stem cell treatments because there is a continued interest in the regenerative properties of stem cells.
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