The average consumer doesn’t know much about regenerative medicine. Mention something like stem cell therapy, and most people will imagine freakish experiments in which tissue is grown in labs and then implanted in human subjects without regard to their health and safety. But reality is a far cry from what people imagine.
Much of the confusion surrounding regenerative medicine is the result of sensational media reports focusing on a very small minority of doctors who do things with regenerative medicine that are outside the boundaries of current FDA regulations. When both doctors and researchers work within established rules, regenerative medicine is actually quite positive.
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Two Types of Regenerative Medicine
For the purposes of this post, there are really two types of regenerative medicine. The first involves using biological material either grown in a lab or donated by individuals (allogeneic). The second form uses biological material provided by the person being treated. This material is known as autologous material.
Any treatments falling under the first category must go through rigorous testing to gain FDA approval before they can be utilized. To date, the only such treatment with government approval is the bone marrow transplant that doctors recommend for treating leukemia. No other regenerative medicine treatments have received government approval.
As for the second type of treatment, the one using autologous biological material, it is already allowed under FDA regulations. The FDA allows doctors to utilize autologous material to treat a variety of conditions, provided that the material is not significantly altered in any way, shape, or form.
PRP for Sports Injuries
One of the most common autologous regenerative medicine procedures is platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy. It is an injection therapy often utilized by athletes to recover more thoroughly and get back to competition more quickly. If you follow pro sports, you are probably aware of many athletes who have elected PRP injections over surgery and other more traditional treatments.
PRP is one of the regenerative procedures offered at Lone Star Pain Medicine in Weatherford, Texas. According to their doctors, PRP is utilized mainly for soft tissue injuries and diseases, sports injuries, and alopecia (male pattern baldness). Some doctors also use it for cosmetic procedures.
PRP: The Details
PRP therapy makes use of concentrated blood platelets and the growth factors found in human blood. Imagine a Lone Star doctor treating a baseball pitcher hoping to avoid Tommy John surgery. For each treatment, the doctor would draw blood from the athlete. The blood would then be processed in a centrifuge in order to isolate the platelets and growth factors. Nothing else about the material changes.
The concentrated material would then be injected into the patient’s elbow. This sudden concentration of platelets triggers the patient’s body to begin the healing process. The body sends the necessary material to the injury site, which is combined with the growth factors to start work.
Over several injections, it is expected that the athlete’s body will naturally repair the tissue damage he is experiencing. If all goes well, his health is restored and he is back in competition with no need for surgery.
Nothing to Be Afraid Of
All of this points to one of the realities of regenerative medicine: it is nothing to be afraid of. It could actually hold the key to curing a whole host of diseases and injuries that can only be symptomatically treated right now.
As time goes on and we learn more about regenerative medicine, new and innovative treatments are bound to emerge. Everything will be fine as long as researchers and doctors play by the rules.
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