DFW Regenerative Medicine – PRP Injections and Stem Cell Therapies
Regenerative medicine offers patients hope and solutions for healing damaged tissues that were previously considered beyond repair. OPTIMAL Pain & Regenerative Medicine® offers Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP), Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate (BMAC) Stem Cells and regenerative allograft treatment options.
PRP therapy utilizes growth factors that are naturally found in human blood. These growth factors are capable of stimulating cellular growth to help promote healing. Patients in need of regeneration, can look to “pluripotent” stem cells. Stem cells are found in the bodies bone marrow and are typically used to treat arthritic conditions and sports injuries. For patients over the age of 60, an allograft will be used in combination with PRP therapy to assist in tissue regeneration. Regenerative allograft therapy includes, BioD® Restore, BioBurst Rejuv Umbilical Cord Stem Cells, Wharton’s Jelly, and Umbilical Cord Stem Cells.
What is Regenerative Medicine Therapy?
Regenerative Medicine Therapy is a safe, non-surgical procedure/ treatment utilizing the patient’s own blood components (Platelets/Plasma) or Bone Marrow containing stem cells (BMAC) or donor cord blood derived tissue allograft containing stem cells and growth factors (Wharton’s Jelly) to relieve pain and jump start the bodies own healing process.
Who is a candidate for Regenerative Medicine therapies?
Almost everyone with a degenerative process or injury to a tissue, disk or joint that is in the mild or moderate disease range can be helped with Regenerative Medicine Therapies. It may be an option for more advanced issues as well; at Optimal Pain & Regenerative Medicine®, we can help you decide what is the best option for your condition.
What Conditions can be Treated with PRP, BMAC and Regenerative Allograft Therapy?
Back Pain and Spine Conditions
Knee Pain
Hip Pain
Shoulder and Elbow Pain
Lower Leg and Foot Pain
What are PRP Injections?
PRP injection is an advanced therapy that uses a patient’s own blood components to help accelerate the healing of injuries. The blood is drawn and separated by a centrifuge device to create a concentrate of platelets in plasma. This concentrate contains multiple growth factors and up to 500% of bioactive proteins that are essential in inducing and accelerating tissue repair and regeneration. Using the most advanced tissue guidance with ultrasound or fluroscopy, the PRP concentrate is injected into the damaged areas including connective tissues, bone, and hyaline cartilages to expedite the development of new blood vessels necessary for tissue healing.
How is platelet rich plasma (PRP) obtained?
PRP is obtained sterily from the patient just before it will be used by drawing blood from the patient and then using a kit that will separate out the red and white blood cells and then concentrate the plasma and platelets to be used for the treatment. We use Emcyte Pure PRP processing kits to obtain the PRP because it year after year gives consistent concentration of the platelets/ plasma to 5-X (times) the concentration of the patient’s blood counts, which is the level of concentration recommended for use with PRP. There are many kits on the market that only concentrate 2-3X and are cheaper to purchase for the clinic but do not offer the best clinical outcomes—buyer beware—always ask what kit will be used for PRP procedures and what the normal concentration of the PRP will be with that particular kit.
Does platelet rich plasma (PRP) contain stem cells?
PRP does NOT contain stem cells but does contain growth factors and has anti-inflammatory properties that speed up the bodies natural healing process. After PRP is injected into a damages tissue, it immediately “attacks” the damages tissue and releases inflammatory mediators as well as release chemotactic factors that will signal the body’s own circulating stem cells and growth factors to come to a damaged area to aid in healing. PRP will do the same when used with donor stem cells injected at the same time as PRP in a regenerative procedure.
What are Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate (BMAC) Stem Cell Therapies?
Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate (BMAC) is a more advanced form of regenerative therapy using bone marrow derived from the patient’s own pelvic bone (Iliac crest) on the day of the procedure using a trocar needle aspiration using local anesthesia with light to moderate sedation. This bone marrow is then sterily processed and concentrated to obtains high levels of all the anti-inflammatory and growth factors, as well as concentrated high levels of pluripotent nucleated stem cells, which dramatically speeds up the healing process and tissue regeneration. Optimal uses Emcyte Pure BMAC processing kits which is one of only a few FDA approved kits for this procedure and consistently gives the highest nucleated cell counts in head-to-head studies against other BMAC processing kits. BMAC cells have been shown in multiple studies to regenerate joint cartilage and spinal discs and to speed up healing in multiple other muscle, tendon or cartilage injuries. It is often used in cases of more significant tissue damage or when other types of regenerative therapies (such as amniotic membrane/ fluid, placental tissue grafts or PRP) have failed.
BMAC pluripotent stem cell counts start to naturally decline slowly in the bone marrow as we age. After about 62-65 years of age, there may not be enough nucleated pluripotent cells in your bone marrow to adequately aid in tissue regeneration. The bone marrow pluripotent nucleated stem cell count exponentially declines after age 60 and by age 80, there are very few pluripotent nucleated cells left in the bone marrow, so other options are offered to patients in this age category.
What are Allograft Regenerative Options?
Patients under the age of 60 generally achieve tissue regeneration using their own “pluripotent” stem cells through the use of BMAC. However, the human body loses its ability to regenerate tissue from its own (autologous) stem cells as it ages. As a result, patients over the age of 60 typically achieve better results using allograft (donated) tissue along with PRP injections. The doctors at OPTIMAL Pain & Regenerative Medicine® will determine which tissue option will have the optimal outcome for each individual patient. This treatment replicates the benefits of stem cell therapy without the ethical concerns of using embryonic/fetal stem cells using one of these allograft options:
Are You a Candidate for Regenerative Medicine?
Why Choose OPTIMAL Pain & Regenerative Medicine®?
The physicians at OPTIMAL Pain & Regenerative Medicine® are focused on providing quality, custom care for each patient. Through the use of cutting-edge technology and exceptional care, the main goal at OPTIMAL is to return patients to a pain-free state.
The PRP kits used at OPTIMAL are FDA approved and produce concentrate at least seven to nine times stronger than the original platelets. The BMAC kits used at OPTIMAL are approved by the FDA and consistently produce higher counts of nucleated stem cells in head-to-head studies. Those numbers and the experience of the provider are critical to the outcome.
Regenerative Medicine Myths:
PRP contains stem cells—False.
PRP contains concentrated platelets and plasma but does not contain stem cells. Unfortunately, there are doctors out there who are either uneducated or are deceiving patients for profiteering and telling patients they are getting “Stem Cell” treatments when they are only getting PRP.
Amniotic fluid/ Amniotic membrane tissue contains stem cells—False.
It does contain growth factors and has potent anti-inflammatory properties. Again, unfortunately, the same situation above occurs when doctors tell patients they are using “Stem Cells” when they inject amniotic fluid or amniotic membrane tissue.
Chiropractors injecting “Stem Cells” in the muscle near your pain will fix your problem—False.
Most chiropractors are only injecting Amniotic fluid in the muscle and calling it “stem cell” injection. They are doing this only as a profiteering practice. They are not trained in regenerative medicine and are having a Nurse Practitioner do the injection, since they are not allowed to do injection therapy with a Chiropractic license in Texas.
Are Regenerative Therapies Covered by Insurance?
Regenerative therapies are still considered experimental / investigational and are currently not covered by insurance. Please call for pricing.