StemCell Therapy

Stem Cell Death caused by Common Medications used by Physicians

In yet another study, researchers have again determined that steroid medication and local anesthetics are really bad for cells.Steroid is a strong anti-inflammatory that iscommonlyused by physicians to treat swelling. The most common steroid medications are Cortisone, Hydrocortisone, Depomedrol, and Betamethasone. Local anesthetics are medications injected by physicians that help numb an area. The most common are Lidocaine, Novacaine, and Marcaine (bupivicane). Several years ago we tested local anesthetics with stem cells in our stem cell culture lab and thisexperiencechanged the way we harvest cells.However, we still see fat based stem cell clinics using common liposuction methods to collect stem cells. The problem with the most common aspiration method for fat liposuction is the use of large amounts of stem cell killing local anesthetic infiltrated into the adipose tissues. While this helps with patient comfort and the technique is easy and straightforward for the doctor, since the doctor has no idea about the viability of the cells being harvested, he has no way of knowing if he is killing the cells with the anesthetic. As discussed, several years ago we investigated the effects of these anesthetics with stem cells after we began to notice that certain harvest techniques used by certain clinic doctors would lead to much lower stem cell yields in culture. In addition, we began to see stem cell culture failures in certain patients on steroid medications. To determine why this was happening, we began to isolate the slight variables in technique used by different physicians and patient medications and ultimately this lead us to test various anesthetics with stem cells. We were blown away by how toxic these anaesthetics like lidocaine and bupivicane (the two most common used by doctors) were to cells. In fact, even at doses about 100 to 1,000 times less that what physicians normally use, some of these anesthetics are still effective at killing stem cells. So if youre planning an adipose or bone marrow stem cell procedure and your doctor wants to use generous amounts of local anesthetics that will come in contact with your cells, the stem cells the doctor is harvesting are likely DOA. While there are ways to keep patients comfortable with local anesthetics and keep cells safe, these procedures have to be carefully developed over time with viability being periodically checked in an advanced culture facility. Since our first 4 years of stem cell experience involved a check for cell viability every time (live cells grow in culture, dead cells dont), we developed our harvest techniques to keep cells alive. In addition, if youre on steroid medications, you may want to speak with your doctor about getting off these medications for your stem cellprocedure, as our experience (and this recent study) show that these medications are also hard on cells.

Disclaimer: Like all medical procedures, Regenexx Procedures have a success & failure rate. Not all patients will experience the same results.

If you liked this post, you may really enjoy this book by the same author - Dr. Chris Centeno

Written by Regenexx Founder, Dr. Chris Centeno, this 150 page book explains the Regenexx approach to patients and orthopedic conditions. Whether youre are an existing patient or simply interested in the human body and how everything in the body ties together, you will enjoy exploring this book in-depth. With hyperlinks to more detailed information, related studies and commentary, this book condenses a huge amount of data and resources into an enjoyable and entertaining read.

Chris Centeno, M.D. is a specialist in regenerative medicine and the new field of Interventional Orthopedics.

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Stem Cell Death caused by Common Medications used by ...

This entry was posted on September 17, 2015 at 6:45 am and is filed under Death by Stem Cells. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |