What is Regenerative Medicine?

Regenerative medicine is the process of creating living, functional tissues to repair or replace tissue or organ function lost due to age, disease, damage, or congenital defects.

Who is a Candidate?

Patients suffering from conditions such as tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow, osteoarthritis, meniscus tears, hip bursitis, plantar fasciitis, and rotator cuff tendinitis are potential candidates for regenerative medicine treatments.

What Are My Treatment Options?

At JCMG, we offer several regenerative medicine treatments, including:

• Umbilical Cord Tissue
• Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP)
• Bone Marrow Stem Cells
• MACI

Umbilical Cord Tissue

A cryopreserved umbilical cord tissue allograft rich in extracellular growth factors and cytokines. Cells are donated from healthy consenting mothers in the United States who have passed a comprehensive medical background check, blood screenings, and have full-term, live, C-section births.

Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP)

Platelets are best known for their importance in clotting blood. Platelets also contain hundreds of proteins called growth factors which are very important in the healing of injuries. PRP is plasma with many more platelets than what is typically found in blood. PRP is done with the patient’s own blood, and has been very successful with plantar fasciitis, choking Turek, bursitis, tennis elbow, and osteoarthritis.

Bone Marrow Stem Cells

Bone marrow is extracted from the iliac crest and then spun through a specialized centrifuge that isolates mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). This autologous serum is then administered to the patient.

MACI

Used for the repair of symptomatic cartilage damage of the adult knee. MACI involves expanding patient (autologous) cells and placing them onto a film that is implanted into the area of cartilage damage and absorbed back into the patient’s own tissue.

FAQ’s

What are the advantages to using umbilical cord tissue allografts?

90% of procedures are successful, with patients experiencing reduced pain and increased range of motion without surgery. Additional benefits include limited risk of rejection, noninvasive procedure, shorter procedure times, and less downtime after treatment.

What is a structural tissue?

Tissues that physically support or serve as a barrier or conduit, or connect, cover, or cushion in the donor are generally considered structural tissues for the purposes of determining the applicable regulatory definition. Examples of structural tissues include bone, skin, amniotic membrane, umbilical cord, blood vessels, adipose, cartilage, tendon, and ligaments.

What are the meaningful characteristics of structural tissue?

Structural tissue’s utility for reconstruction, repair, and replacement uses its relevant characteristics such as strength, flexibility, cushioning, and compressibility.

Do these structural tissues contain cells?

Structural tissue may contain both extracellular matrix and cellular components because any alteration of these components that relates to the tissue’s utility for reconstruction, repair, or replacement would be considered more than minimal manipulation.

What is minimal manipulation?

For structural tissue, minimal manipulation is processing that does not alter the original relevant characteristics of the tissue relating to the tissue’s utility for reconstruction, repair, or replacement.

What is homologous use?

Homologous use means the reconstruction, repair, replacement, or supplementation of a recipient’s cells or tissues with an HCT/P that performs the same basic function or functions in the recipient.

Recipient’s cells or tissues may or may not be identical to the donor’s cells or tissues but do perform one or more of the same basic functions in the recipient cells and tissues as performed in the donor.

Demystifying Regenerative Medicine Tissue and Products

One of the most difficult aspects of regenerative medicine is navigating the landscape of tissue sources for treatment. What products are derived from these tissues? What do those products contain?

Product Categories and Descriptions

Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP)

Blood is drawn from the patient and spun through a centrifuge to separate the platelets and their growth factors into a concentrated serum. This concentrated serum of platelets is then administered to the patient.

Umbilical Cord Blood

HSC: Blood is extracted from the umbilical cord and processed to isolate hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). The HSC count is therapeutically insignificant. The concentrated cord blood is then administered to the patient.

Bone Marrow Aspirate

Bone Marrow MSC: Bone marrow is extracted from the iliac crest and then spun through a specialized centrifuge that isolates MSCs. This autologous serum is then administered to the patient.

Adipose Extraction

Lipoaspirate MSC: Fat tissue is removed through a mini liposuction procedure. The adipose is then placed into a closed system and spun down through a centrifuge to isolate MSCs. This cell pellet is then suspended and administered to the patient.

Payment Options

JCMG offers regenerative medicine treatments at the most affordable rates in mid-Missouri.

Please note that most major insurance companies do not yet cover regenerative medicine techniques. JCMG offers these treatments as a fee-for-service, with 50% of the payment collected before ordering materials and the remaining 50% due at the time of service.

For additional pricing information, please consult Dr. Sloan.