What is Regenerative Therapeutic Medicine

Many people want to know what Regenerative Therapeutic Medicine is and what are the different types available to you.  Below are some answers.  We will continue addressing this series in our next blog post.  Stay tuned!

What is Regenerative Therapeutic Medicine (RTM)?

RTM is a developing branch of medicine exploring how to help our bodies heal themselves to eliminate or reduce the cause ailments by recruiting your own healing potential instead of just blocking symptoms (ie. Pain).  Over the last 15 years, physicians and scientists have been researching how your body reacts when it is injured and how certain proteins and cells react to those injuries/ infections/ surgery. Then determining how to recruit these healing cells and protein products (such as growth factors or stem cells) to develop and regrow healthy tissue and bone and have your body return to a healthy normal state.

Does Regenerative Medicine mean only Stem Cells?

No, Stem cells are just a piece of the puzzle when it comes to the regeneration of healthy tissue.  These powerful types of cells can certainly aide the body in healing, but there are other components that are just as important.  Some of these companion components are growth factors, microRNA, exosomes, extracellular matrix, hyaluronic acid, and collagen which stimulate the body to send its own healing cells to a damaged area.

Are there different types of regenerative medicine?

Yes, there are several types of regenerative medicine. Placental based products have the full orchestra of components. Whereas Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) only has growth factors. Bone Marrow Aspirate (BMA) has adult stem cells which are somewhat limited in their ability to regenerate tissue and you need much more for them to be effective, and they don’t bring all of the components of the orchestra to the regenerative process. There is Stromal Vascular Fraction (SVF) like BMA has some of the components of the orchestra but certainly not all. Placental based products from the inner layer of the placenta are the safest, with the greatest potential, in our series of articles we will discuss each of these types of regenerative medicine approaches, so you can make an informed decision as to what is best for you.

PRP is simply condensing the body’s own healing properties. For instance, by extracting a large quantity of blood (50ml) and using a special process to spin that blood in a centrifuge, you can extract platelets that contain the body’s own regenerative powers to aid in the healing of an area. This is known as Platelet Rich Plasma.

SVF and BMA may involve growing (culture and expansion ) your bodies own stem cells outside the body and then re-implanting these cell in the damaged area. This is done by harvesting bone marrow from the sternum or by lipo-suctioning fat from the animal to retrieve these stem cells and then culturing them in vitro for a period of time to have enough to treat the injury.

Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy, or Radial Pulse therapy, needling of the injured tissue, cold laser are also considered regenerative treatments consists of stimulation of injured areas using mechanical devices to attract the body’s natural healing capabilities. Similar to a back rub, which makes your back feel better by stimulating blood flow to the muscles to the injured tissue.

Physicians can use one or all of these methods together to amplify your bodies ability to heal itself. Each has positive and negative characteristics that need to be considered prior to choosing the correct combination for your issue.

Please send us your questions, your thoughts, we will do our best to answer and include in our ongoing discussion of regenerative therapies.