Regenexx Lumbar Disc Patient Successes
Regenexx Lumbar Disc Procedure as an Alternative to Surgery
Our lumbar disc bulge research effort is a great example of how we’re committed to high quality cellular therapy. As pain management physicians, our initial interest is using stem cells for tissue repair was in the spine. The animal models had predicted great success. These researchers had just placed mesenchymal stem cells into a degenerated disc and it magically regenerated to about 80% of it’s pre-injury status. We went through an Institutional Review Board and got approval to place stem cells in the discs of a few human patients. We watched and were very excited to see absolutely nothing happen on MRI. We scratched our heads and wondered why this worked so well in animals, but not in people. When we investigated further there were big differences between the animal models and our patients. We then spent another 1-2 years trying to isolate those differences. After making significant changes to the procedure, we were able to finally obtain reliable results. Some three years after we began, we finally released this therapy to commercial patients. Here are some examples of successes. Realize that all of these patients would have needed surgery, but were only treated through a needle.
MRI Before Treatment MRI 3 Months After Treatment
32 year old with a many year history of chronic back and leg pain due to central L5-S1 disc bulge causing compression of both S1 nerve roots. 3 months after the Regenexx procedure, he had elimination of his symptoms. An MRI done 3 months later (on the right) shows significant reduction is size of disc bulge.
Case 2
A 28 year old female, who had years of back pain and intermittet leg pain after a failed microdiscectomy surgery.
1 month before Regenexxx Procedure 3 months after Regenexx Procedure
Notice that the disc bulge (circled) has flattened in the image on the right compared to the image on the left. The spinal canal diameter at this level has also increased from 1.0 cm to 1.2 cm.
Case 3
35 yo WM with a many year history of low back and leg pain as a result of a L4-L5 disc. Discography confirmed that this disc was causing most of his low back pain. The patient failed epidurals and physical therapy.
Notice the high intensity zone in the back of the disc on the left in the before picture (the whitish area in the back of the disc). This represents a tear that is liekly causing the bulge. Now note how on the right (3 months post procedure) that this tear goes away (no longer a big white area in the back of the disc). The patient reports 75% improvement in his symptoms.
For the latest case reports on recently treated back patients, click here.
