(Courtesy of CMD) Back pain, as you know, is one of the most frequently complained about conditions presenting from the general population to their internist. It is estimated that almost all of the population will experience significant back pain at one point in their lives. Much of the pathology is centered around the disc and its degeneration and lack of water content over time. As has been previously reported, much of the conservative and interventional medicine being utilized currently centers on removal of discal material and/or fusion technologies or injection of disc and nerve to treat pain and deal with inciting factors. However, as of the last 10 to 15 years, there has been a greater focus on regenerative medicine, that is, an attempt to heal the discs.
At the Center for Musculoskeletal Disorders, we have attempted to stay on track and in pace with this new technology. In short, the disc, which has lost water content and taken on a blacker appearance on MRI, is injected with stem cells or the most pluripotent cells obtained from patient’s bone marrow, typically from the posterior pelvis or from the knee, spun down to its most concentrated factors, and then injected back into the disc.
We recently had a unique case in a young athletic male, G.S, from Englewood, who was quite healthy other than the fact that he suffers from spinal degeneration at the L4-5 level as well as right knee meniscal tears and mild degeneration. After attempting other treatment sources, Drs. Steven Horowitz and Jonathan Lewin elected to bring him to the Bergenfield Surgical Center and, using XCELL BMAC technologies, we harvested super-pluripotential marrow cells from his posterior iliac spine pelvic region, spun them down to obtain approximately 5 cc of super concentrate, which we injected into the L4-5 disc under fluoroscopic X-ray image and, then after that was done, placed him on his back, and injected the right knee with a combination of super concentrate and hemi-concentrate stem cells.
It is estimated that the concentrations of the most effective cell lines are 2 to 4 million per cc injected. It is our hope that the patient will be able to avoid a more drastic procedure to either the spine or the knee in the upcoming years. We will keep you posted. In the short term, he is very happy and recovering from this mild procedure, which took 15 minutes, including the harvesting of the cells.
Wishing you the best of spinal health. If we can be of any assistance in any of your spine or other orthopedic and pain needs, please do not hesitate to contact Elianna Kranz at (201) 800-2074 or via email [email protected] or visit us at the office and make an appointment at
(201) 510-3777. Happy Passover!
