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The future of Stem Cells


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Hello everyone,

 

I wanted to see if I could get some good advice/opinions (hopefully from some experts) on the future of stem cell use for healing bulged and herniated discs. I am 25 and I have 3 bulged discs, my first 8 years ago. Last year for the first time since my injury, I was referred to a physiatrist. He works for UW Medicine in Seattle WA where I live. I have had this injury for a long time, so i have done lots of research. I asked him many questions. I am highly interested in the Regenexx procedure as a route to possibly rid me of this condition. For those who don't know, Regenexx is a procedure that uses your bodies own harvested and cultured stem cells (from bone marrow) to grow back and repair the injured discs material/shell.

 

The problem is, it is a privately owned/patented procedure. It's only done in certain places in the US, you have to go through training at their facility based in Colorado in order to perform it at your clinic. Being in WA, my closest options are to fly to California or Colorado. This isn't really feasible money-wise as I can't work or have that kind of money. Everything I've read seems pretty legit and I want as many other opinions as possible on this option. I asked my physiatrist about it, and he says that he doesn't recommend it due to not enough studies/research behind it at this point. It seems like my only option right now, the procedure costs around under 10k.

 

Stem cell procedures aren't covered, and he said that it might not be covered by any insurance for another 4-5 years. I asked him about what kind of research is going on at the UW for stem cell use, things like that. He said they are working with them by spinning them on centrifuges from plasma. They aren't specifically trying to use them for something like what I'm asking. It could be years until something like Regenexx is mainstream, I simply can't wait.

 

How close are we really to using our own cells for healing injuries such as mine? It seems crazy to me that you can patent something like that. You take out cells and culture it. Then they inject it into the sites, and they recover. Can't we simply not call it "Regenexx" and start using this type of procedure or massively research it? It's very frustrating how close we are to having such amazing medical science, but it's being held back by so many factors. You think once this kind of thing came around that it would have exploded into mainstream usage. It has so many other uses besides healing spinal discs! :mad:

 

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