Regenerative Medicine
Regenerative Medicine relies on the premise that the human body can do incredible things on its own. It seeks to harness the power of the body to encourage quicker healing, repair tissue, manage pain & speed up the recovery process post injury or post surgery.
Regenerative medicine treatments, sometimes known as ortho-biologics, involve use of body’s biological tissue which includes blood, fat or bone marrow for tissue repair, regeneration & engineering. Biologic treatments have been proven to improve symptoms of certain orthopaedic conditions & have the potential to speed up healing in musculoskeletal tissues.
In most cases, patient’s own tissue is used to treat the injury and hence these treatments are considered to be safer as compared to other conservative methods.
Regenerative orthopaedics aims at improving pain & other discomforting symptoms of the musculoskeletal problems. Most of the parts of this system such as tendons, ligaments or cartilage have a relatively poor ability to heal on their own. That is where regenerative medicine aspires to swoop in & help these tissues heal better.
Ortho-biologics can successfully be used to treat certain degenerative conditions like arthritis and also trauma & sports injuries. In some cases, it helps some patients avoid surgery. In others, it helps patients who’ve had a surgery heal much quicker.
Common conditions treated with regenerative medicine are:
- Joint pain & osteoarthritis
- Fractures
- Cartilage injuries
- Meniscal Tears
- Labral Tears
- Tendonitis & tendinosis
- Partial tendon tears
- Ligament sprains or tears
- Muscle strains in athletes
- Nerve inflammation
- Plantar Fasciitis
The most effective forms of regenerative treatments that are already in use are:
- Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy (PRP)
PRP therapy has proven to be effective in promoting healing both during reconstructive surgeries & also in place of surgery. It involves use of the patient’s own blood, which is processed to extract the platelets. These platelets are then injected back into the patient at the site of injury.
This has been successfully used as a non invasive treatment option for arthritis of the knee, hip, shoulder & ankle. It has also been used to treat sprains & chronic pain. Most joint injuries respond very well to PRP treatments. - Viscosupplementation Treatment
This involves injecting hyaluronic acid into the arthritic joint. The fluid helps combat pain & swelling in the joint. Hyaluronic acid is a fluid coating in the cartilage which allows the bones to move smoothly against each other. It works as a shock absorber & lubricant in the joint.
In patients with osteoarthritis, the level of hyaluronic acid in the joints is much lower than it should be, leading to pain, swelling & joint stiffness. Viscosupplementation aims to reduce these symptoms through injecting this hyaluronic acid. - Stem Cell Therapy
Stem cell therapy is a cutting edge therapy being used in general orthopaedics & sports medicine. This involves collecting patient’s own stem cells either from the bone marrow ( known as bone marrow aspirate) or from a small amount of fat tissue (known as lipoaspirate). The aspirate is then injected into the injured site to help repair the damaged tissued.
While there are many different types of cells in the body. Mesenchymal Stem cells (MSC) are the type of cells that have most significant to therapy of orthopedic conditions.
Stem cell therapy is effective in treating osteoarthritis, osteonecrosis, avascular necrosis, degenerative disc disease, mescal tears & cartilage defects.
Research is still ongoing on the understanding the role of regenerative medicine in orthopaedics better. The currently available ortho-biologics have great potential and have many advantages such as:
- Promoting natural healing
- Quicker recovery
- Minimally invasive
- No hospitalisation
- Reduced risk of infections
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Yashoda Hospitals Hitec City