Are You An Osteoarthritis Patient? Stem Cells Can Treat You Well!
The most common form of arthritis is osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is instigated by the untimely wearing away of cartilage, the gristle that covers the ends of long bones. Osteoarthritis has a tendency for weight-bearing joints like the neck, low back, hips and knees. Treatment, up till now, has been principally symptomatic including analgesic and non-steroidal-anti-inflammatory medications, glucocorticoid injections, massage, chiropractic and physical therapy. Surgical therapies encompassed osteotomy (where a slice of bone is removed to line the joint up better), resurfacing (a revised replacement) and total joint replacement. While surgical treatments are normally effective, they are irreparable and they do carry attendant hazards, some are dangerous. So, the exploration has been to develop treatments that will be effective but also protect the joint. One such methodology is the usage of autologous stem cells. In our hands, the process which encompasses the usage of autologous stem cells (a patient’s own stem cells) accompanied by autologous fat, and growth factors has been comparatively fruitful via stem cell therapy for osteoarthritis in India
What precisely is osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common type of arthritis and affects about 30 million Americans. OA is a disease of articular cartilage, the gristle that covers the ends of long bones. Cartilage has both sliding and also shock absorbing properties. It is this flexibility of function that permits a joint to work appropriately. Standard cartilage is composed of cells named chondrocytes that sit inside a matrix comprising of collagen and glycosaminoglycans. Osteoarthritis develops when the chondrocyte starts to breakdown and begins to create damaging enzymes. At the same time water content inside the matrix changes making it more vulnerable to stress. Trivial cracks, called “fissures” develop. Also, local inflammation encompassing the lining of the joint- named the synovium- starts. The end outcome is a steady and untimely wearing away of cartilage. This procedure is most obvious in weight-bearing zones like the neck, low back, hips and knees.
The process of stem cell treatment for osteoarthritis
Current methodologies to the treatment of OA encompass the usage of analgesics (pain-relieving medicines), non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS), physical rehabilitation, appropriate weight management, exercises, shots of steroids, injections of viscosupplements (lubricants) and surgery. While many of the above treatments help relieve pain, they do nothing to avert cartilage loss and more prominently, they do nothing to reinstate cartilage. Orthopedic methods like chondrocyte transplantation and cartilage plug surgery are useful for discrete, comparatively trivial areas of cartilage loss but are usually reserved for younger individuals who have had traumatic injuries to cartilage. But what about the older individual who struggles with osteoarthritis? In recent years there has been much interest in the protagonist of regenerative methods to reconstruct cartilage.
The topic of considerable study is stem cells. Stem cells are pluripotential cells, meaning they are cells that can become any type of tissue, given the correct stimulus. Stem cells can be gotten from embryonic tissue, which is a source of much debate. Or they can be gotten from adults. The adult body has a trivial number of stem cells in several tissues. They are activated by injury or disease. Adult stem cells, as a rule, do not have the aptitude to segregate and also embryonic stem cells. However, in recent years, methods have been developed to reap mesenchymal stem cells- stem cells found in the bone marrow. These mesenchymal stem cells, when appropriately organized and concentrated, have the aptitude to segregate into cartilage and bone.
Stem cells are reaped from the patient’s iliac crest bone marrow using local anesthetic and a special kind of biopsy needle. The stem cells are then individually concentrated. After the stem cells are equipped, the doctor, using ultrasound regulation and local anesthetic, finds the zone of arthritis involvement and aggravates the area using a special big needle. This irritation is imperative as it starts an inflammatory reaction which is the foreword to healing and restoration. The zones that are irritated embrace the capsule, tendon insertions, pericapsular soft tissue and also cartilage. Blood is drawn from the patient and rolled in a special centrifuge so as to get platelet rich plasma. Platelets are blood cells that encompass multiple growth and healing factors. Once the irritation has been completed, stem cells as well as the platelet rich plasma are injected into the prepared zone. The growth factors within the platelet rich plasma act on receptors found on the surface of stem cells and cause the stem cells to segregate and multiply. The end outcome is cartilage regeneration and also decreasing of pain. While the data is primary, the early outcomes appear to be very encouraging. There has been a bang of interest in the potential remedial effects of mesenchymal stem cells (SCs) on osteoarthritis.