Our body structure is held together by ligaments, tendons, and connective tissue which is likened to structural glue. Dysfunctional tissue is a natural result of aging, wear and tear, overuse, and injury. In essence the glue drys up, cracks, snaps, and stiffens, resulting in pain or derangements in normal mobility, function, or appearance. Regenerative medicine administers human cell and tissue products to repair, reconstruct, or replace worn and damaged tissue. Whether tissue products are derived from a patient’s own blood or allograft tissue, they provide scaffolding, growth factors, cytokines, and mesenchymal stem cells to promote new growth. A natural consequence of aging includes longer healing times, nutritional deficiencies, increased inflammation, environmental toxins, and mitochondrial dysfunction. All these factors interrupt efficient healing pathways disabling the body to heal fully and recover damaged or injured tissue.
HUMAN TISSUE PRODUCTS
All human cell and tissue products provide cytokines and growth factors which stimulate the bodies immune system to repair and replace local damaged tissue. Human tissue products providing growth factors or stem cells include peripheral blood(Platelet Rich Plasma), placenta, umbilical cord, bone marrow, or adipose tissue.
MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS
Current sources of Mesenchymal Stem Cells requires extraction from adipose, bone marrow, or umbilical cord. Adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells and bone marrow extraction are clinically invasive. Umbilical cord derived, also known as Wharton’s Jelly Mesenchymal Stem Cells, is derived from a young source and is not clinically invasive.
CORECYTE™
One of the current products available known as CoreCyte™, provides tissue umbilical sourced mesenchymal stem cells from Wharton’s jelly. Wharton’s jelly is a gelatinous substance in the umbilical cord that provides cushioning to the umbilical artery and veins. The elements and structure of Wharton’s jelly consists of 440+ cytokines, mesenchymal stem cells, chemokines, and growth factors. CoreCyte™ is processed from umbilical cords that were collected from donors with normal pregnancies. CoreCyte™ is regulated by the FDA as a human tissue-based product. Infectious disease testing is performed to minimize potential risks of disease transmission to recipients including HIV and Hepatitis. CoreCyte™ is safe but is contraindicated in patients with a known hypersensitivity to CoreCyte™ or dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). CoreCyte™ is used to enhance healing properties of multiple tissues including ligaments, tendons, cartilage, connective tissue in the face, scalp(ie acne scarring, hair loss). Corecyte is also able to be delivered via IV for chronic immune or neurological conditions after consult with your doctor to consider utility.
ASSESSMENT OF MESENCHYMAL STEM CELL ACTIVITY
The International Society for Cellular Therapy proposes the minimal criteria to define human mesenchymal stem cells(MSC). MSC must be plastic-adherent when maintained in standard culture conditions, express CD105, CD73, and CD90 while lacking expression in CD14, CD34, CD45, CD19, and HLA-DR surface molecules, and they must differentiate to osteoblasts, adipocytes, and chondroblasts in vitro. CoreCyte™ as well as bone marrow and adipose derived MSC meet these criteria.
PRICING FOR INJECTIONS of JOINTS
CoreCyte™ injections are designed to generally be sufficient for a single large joint injection such as in low back, hip, knee, ankle, neck or shoulder. The price for this treatment is $3200. To inject a second large joint or area related to the first such as a shoulder, knee, or hip is $5000 for both.
