What is Involved in a Cellular Therapy Treatment?
So you are thinking about cellular therapy and you want to know what is involved.
- Do you have to go to a hospital?
- Will you need general anesthesia?
- Will the recovery times be long and painful?
The answer to all of the questions is NO!
Cellular therapy treatments involve no hospital stay, no need for general anesthesia and no need for prolonged, painful recoveries.
Lets take a few minutes to explain what will be involved.
We make decisions on your best options by evaluating you first
I know this sounds crazy, but there are many clinics that “sell” stem cell treatments in a seminar setting, signing the patient up for a procedure without ever having taken a history or having done a physical exam. This does not lead to your best approach for cell therapy.
At Southcoast, we have board certified physicians, with much training and experience treating joint and spine disease using regenerative options. We wamt to see you in the office to examine the patient, hear your story, make sure that the issue is in fact whatyou believe it is, and then determine what option is best. It is possible that may be a recommendation for surgery, but that is not very likely. We know regenerative options can help.
You will need imaging studies
If you have not already had imaging studies, we may need to order x-rays or MRI. Based on your history, location of pain, and your examination, we will decide which, if any, imaging studies are required. If you already have had such studies, then please bring them to the initial visit. If they need to be ordered, we will review them with you on your follow up visit.
Imaging studies are important for many reasons, not the least of which is that Medicare will not pay for certain options like Hyaluronic Acid, unless we prove your problem is knee arthritis.
Most often these imaging studies confirm our diagnosis and help us to be certain we are treating the proper cause, and area. However, they may also help us decide if you are a good candidate for cellular therapy, and if so, which approach is best.
We will ask you to refrain from certain medications
Prior to regenerative procedures, we will ask you to:
- stop taking aspirin and non-steroidal medications like motrin, well in advance
- scrub with antibacterial soap
- wear loose fitting clothing
- make us aware of any allergies
- take any pain medications or sedatives prescribed
- STOP any blood thinners several days in advance
- drink more water than usual
The actual procedure is done in office under guidance
For these procedures, no trip to the hospital is required.
The procedure is typically done in office, most often using ultrasound or x-ray (fluoroscopy) guidance.
Ultrasound can be used for location of the posterior iliac crest, and subsequent aspiration of the mesenchymal cells. It can also be used in shoulder, knee and hip procedures for identification of the typical landmarks, and guidance of the injections.
In some cases, such as spine procedures, you will need to be placed on a table and a Fluoroscope x-ray will be used for guidance to allow specific targeted injections in the proper disc, ligaments, or posterior column structures. There is little pain involved in the imaging and the injections are done using local anesthesia, which minimizes discomfort.
Supraspinatus muscle in shoulder
Aspiration and injection of cells involves minimal pain
We aspirate your cells from the hip bone near your buttocks. You are most often lying on your stomach during this part of the procedure. This aspiration takes about 5-10 minutes and involves minor pain.
Once the cells are obtained, they must be processed. This takes about 30-40 minutes and most often you will simply be resting on the bed during this time.
After the cells are properly processed, they are injected back into the appropriate areas. We use small amounts of local anesthesia prior to these injections. In some instances, such as cases of knee arthritis with subchondral edema, the cells may be combined with other agents such as bone matrix, in order to provide the best chance of success.
What happens when the injections are finished?
Once the procedure is complete, small bandages will be applied. You will remain in the office for 30 minutes or more, then you will be discharged home in the care of your driver. Patients are asked to have a driver post cellular therapy procedures. Simple procedures where only knee injections are done, such as PRP or Wharton’s jelly with hyaluronic acid, do not require another driver.
You will be given contact numbers, and we will follow up with you via phone the next morning. We will see you back in the office in 3-4 weeks and will expect you to begin to gain improvement by 10-16 weeks!
What if I am in hurry and know I have knee arthritis already?
If you have already have had knee x-rays, and are certain that you have knee arthritis, and you have failed prior treatments, you can schedule a knee treatment with PRP or Wharton’s jelly now.
To do this you should already:
- know you have knee arthritis and have had imaging like xrays
- have failed simple treatments like topicals, rest, anti-inflammatory drugs
- possibly even failed hyaluronic acid treatments
- not have had any hyaluronic acid treatments in the last 6 months
IF you want to schedule one of these treatments, we can do so. You will need to share your Medicare information and let us know if you have any bleeding issues, major medical problems or are on a blood thinner. We will discuss these when you come in for your treatment.
Schedule this injection today to get started sooner.