MDNews - Minnesota

Connecting to Regenerative Medicine CDI offers regenerative medicine in the Twin Cities at: CDI St. Louis Park 5775 Wayzata Blvd. Suite 190 St. Louis Park, MN 55416 952-541-1840 Regenerative medicine is also available in central Minnesota at: CDI Sartell 166 19th St. South Suite 100 Sartell, MN 56377 320-251-0609 " The goal of regenerative medicine is to restore the health and function of tissues using the body's natural healing and repair mechanisms, not to mask pain by mitigating inflammation." BLAKE A. JOHNSON, MD, FACR, TWIN CITIES MEDICAL DIRECTOR AND DIRECTOR OF NEUROIMAGING AT CDI AND DIRECTOR OF REGENERATIVE MEDICINE AT CDI down and, in some cases, reversing the process of deterioration." Proper patient selection is crucia l. Dr. Johnson a nd his colleag ues only perform regenerative medicine pro- c e du re s i f i nd iv idu a l s ' s y mpt om s a nd imag ing findings a lig n with the capabilities of the proposed therapy and indicate a high likelihood of success. The risk profiles of stem cell therapy and PRP are sma ll, Dr. Johnson says. The treatments — which entail harvest- ing patients' natural biologic material, concentrating it and then injecting it back into the individua ls — ca rr y no risk of disease transmission or rejection because they utilize patients' native stem cells and blood. SPOTLIGHT ON STEM CELL THERAPY Stem cell therapy is appropriate for individuals with joint or spine disorders, including disk-related pain and discom- fort originating in the facet, sacroiliac and appendicular joints, according to Dr. Johnson. Prior to the procedure, the patient meets with a nurse to discuss the process. In the procedure suite, intravenous access is established and the patient receives conscious sedation, as well as an analgesic to control pain. With the patient lying on his or her abdomen, the physician uses a high-speed surgical drill to access the posterior iliac crest and the bone marrow within, where mesenchymal stem cells are abundant. Local anesthetic makes this a relatively painless procedure. " Using the dri ll to get to the bone marrow allows us to keep patient dis- comfort to a minimum," Dr. Johnson says. "The tract left by the needle is much smoother than it would be otherwise, and no micro-fracturing occurs because the drill produces minimal trauma. We aspirate bone marrow, which is processed in a two-stage centrifuge that separates the stem cells from the rest of the bone marrow contents and concentrates them. "When the stem cell concentration is ready, we inject the stem cells into the injured or degenerated joint or tissue," Dr. Johnson continues. " The entire collection-to-injection process ta kes about 90 minutes." As the stem cells saturate the target site, their natural mechanisms of healing kick in. They may convert into the same type of cells that are native to their new host tissue, according to Dr. Johnson. Although, he thinks stem cells likely have their greatest eect due to an exchange of R NA that ta kes place between the stem cells and diseased cells and through the release of growth factors and other substances that restore the biochemi- cal milieu. "Stem cells also release exosomes — small packets of RNA — that exchange with the diseased cells and restore them to more normal function," Dr. Johnson says. "It's been known for years in bench research that there's an exchange of RNA through these micro-packets of genetic materia l, from the stem cells into the ambient diseased cells. 0 8C O V E R F E A T U R E

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