Home › Blog › Having Many Stem Cell Sources in the Toolbox benefits the Patient

The Centeno-Schultz clinic has been using stem cells since 2005. That may not sound like a long time, but in terms of clinical stem cells use, it means that we were one of the first medical clinics in the United States to use stem cells for therapy. It also means that we have treated more than a thousand patients with cellular therapy and performed thousands of procedures for Regenexx-C, -SD, -SCP, -PRP, PL, and -AD. In addition, we don’t treat every disease that has a name, but only focus on orthopedics so that we can do one thing well, rather than everything poorly. As a result, we know that where you get your stem cells matters for what you intend the cells to repair. For orthopedics, bone marrow stem cells are the best source (Regenexx-SD). Orthopedic surgeons have known this for years, as the knee micro fracture procedure liberates these bone marrow stem cells into a cartilage defect. Adipose stem cells may be great for cosmetic use or to help nerves heal, but they dramatically under perform bone marrow stem cells in orthopedics. Orthopedic surgeons, for example, don’t perform a knee adipose micro fracture, transferring abdominal fat into the knee without liberating bone marrow stem cells, it just wouldn’t work. Adipose tissue used for a knee is better to provide structure (Regenexx-AD), for example to help prevent a meniscus from spitting out of a knee joint. Having some extra stem cells on hand (adipose has many), is also likely not a bad idea. In our experience, the very small stem cells found in peripheral blood (Regenexx-SCP) are best for healing things like small meniscus, ligament, and tendon tears. These are also easier to obtain (the patient just has a blood draw) and as a result less expensive to use. The bottom line is that any clinic using stem cells for orthopedic injuries should have multitude of sources to draw from to produce the best possible patient outcomes.

Chris Centeno, MD is a specialist in regenerative medicine and the new field of Interventional Orthopedics. Centeno pioneered orthopedic stem cell procedures in 2005 and is responsible for a large amount of the published research on stem cell use for orthopedic applications. View Profile