Regenerative Medicine – it sounds like a science–fiction concept, but it’s actually a very real practice taking place in San Antonio.
The idea centers on using the body to heal itself in a hastened timeframe; Dr. Emily Pineda of the South Texas Arthritis Care Center is availing patients to its benefits.
The therapy is called Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP), a process in which a doctor concentrates a patient’s platelets by spinning blood in a centrifuge, causing the platelets to compress, thus increasing the healing factors up to 500 percent.
The doctor then re–injects the platelets into a wound or other area that may be a source of chronic pain.
Because platelets are the clotting and healing mechanism in the body, they speed the healing process.
Patients who have lived with the chronic pain of tendonitis, rotator cuff tendonitis, tennis elbow and bursitis of the hip for example, are suddenly finding themselves pain–free.
PRP is something that has heretofore only been utilized by elite athletes (Olympic athletes, NFL players and NBA players) because it cuts their healing time so significantly without surgery.
Hines Ward of the Pittsburg Steelers received PRP treatments to address a knee injury that would have otherwise kept him off the field in this year’s Super Bowl.
Now it is available to the public and offers a powerful treatment option without the need for surgery.
While PRP in itself is a fascinating treatment, it is really only as effective as the rheumatologist providing it.
Dr. Pineda, one of a handful of doctors employing PRP as a treatment option, is the only San Antonio doctor who can inject PRP with the guiding assistance of an ultrasound.
Using a two–handed method, she uses one hand to “see” via the ultrasound the exact spot in which to inject, while simultaneously using the other to inject PRP. (Without the assistance of an ultrasound, the doctor has to go in blindly.)
The result is that she hits the targeted spot with extreme accuracy, thereby greatly increasing the chance for maximum effectiveness.
“If you can use the ultrasound appropriately,” says Dr. Pineda, who also is an instructor in ultrasound guidance, “it is almost like performing microsurgery with a needle and PRP. But I only do PRP with an ultrasound. It’s like shooting an arrow; would you rather shoot with a blindfold on or with your eyes open? When you’re dealing with areas that are a fraction of a millimeter thick, you don’t want to go in blindly.”
Pinpointing the problem of tendonitis or bursitis and being able to treat it in an exact spot is the difference of quick improvement, slow improvement or no improvement.
“I go in and create inflammation to an old injury then inject PRP, which releases growth factors and calls on the body to release stem cells from the bone marrow,” says Dr. Pineda. “The stem cells, which can grow into any body part from a tendon to cartilage to an ear, then go to the site of the injury and re–heal the area, in the proper way. Patients can heal a lot more quickly than expected, even in patients who have failed other treatments.
“When I go in with my ultrasound, I can see little things in the anatomy, as small as one tenth of a millimeter in diameter,” says Dr. Pineda. “It allows me to give better service to my patients because the ultrasound is so incredibly accurate. Although results may vary, in my experience patients that were previously dealing with long–term pain management and those with a recent injury are now pain–free; or close to pain–free and are better able to function.”
PRP, while it may sound like something out of a movie, is indeed the trend of the future.
More importantly, it’s available at the South Texas Arthritis Care Center, with a doctor that has been able to harness its power via ultrasound guidance.
“The applications are truly boundless,” says Dr. Pineda. “You’re allowing the body to heal in the way that God meant for you to heal, but more quickly. Regenerating the body naturally is creating a lot of impressive data. I’m happy to be able to provide my patients with this kind of treatment that improves their lives so dramatically.”
