Stem Cell Treatment Method we have been applying

Regenerative Medicine: The method we apply

In RegenCell regenerative cellular treatment department of Çobanoğlu Clinic, it is aimed to treat the patients suffering from chronic diseases by using adult stem cells acquired from patient’s own fat tissues.

Treatments of RegenCell follow the regenerative medicine procedures developed by Cellthera and ArsArthroBiotechnology laboratory. It involves first tests and scanning, physical examination and evaluation of the candidate. These procedures can be completed in less than two hours.

Recently, bone marrow was considered to be a good source for stem cells. However, bone marrow extraction is a difficult and painful procedure for the patient. Actually, fat tissue involves more stem cells than bone marrow and it is easier and safer to harvest stem cells from this tissue.

In many cases such as heart diseases, stem cells of fat tissue are shown to be superior to the ones of bone marrow. It is a documented fact that chronic diseases suppress the bone marrow, and it may explain why the cells of fat tissue are superior.  Therefore, fat tissue is preferable as a source.

Our present technology isolates patients own fat cells and harvests stem cells by destruction of these fat cells.  Use of patient’s own fat tissue is that easy it can be done in office conditions, preparations take 1-2 hours and stem cells can be ready to use after an hour of procedure thanks to the advanced technology and tools. It is not necessary to send the cells abroad or to another laboratory and the treatment can be done in the same place

Local Anesthesia and Harvest of the Fat

The source of adult stem cells acquired from patient’s own fat is the fat tissue gathered with mini-lipoaspiration. In RegenCell, extraction of the fat is operated by expert teams according to protocols involving separation of the stem cells and administration to the patients.

Marvelously rich for stem cells, fat tissue provides a source for the stem cells which will be used in RegenCell. This fat can be harvested even in office conditions with mini-lipoaspiration method. Regenerative stem cells actually come from “stromal vascular fraction” – SVF. This is a protein rich part of the processed fat tissue. SVF contains mononuclear cells, macrophage cells, endothelial cells, erythrocytes and important growth factors which activate the stem cells and make the procedure easier. Thanks to our advanced technology, it is possible to isolate high amount of alive cells in the same session.

SVF is harvested, intensified, and administered back to the patient. It is administered with the principles of outpatients by local infection or i.v administration or more commonly, both of them. All the preparation and administration takes less than two hours. It should be known that stem cell treatment may not be suitable for every orthopedic problem. Therefore, each patient should be evaluated separately.

Mini-lipoaspiration is applied under local anesthesia in sterile conditions. Special cannulas are used for this and a few hundreds of grams of fat tissue is extracted from the abdomen or sides. This procedure takes less than half an hour. It does not cause any cosmetic problems because the extracted amount is very few. Patient is awake during the procedure and awaits the procedure to end comfortably.

Preparation of Stem Cells

The next step is isolation of the adult stem cells from the fat cells subsequent to extraction of the fat. Our technology lets us safely harvest high amount of alive stem cells.

As we emphasized before, only patient’s own stem cells which are harvested from patient’s own fat tissue are being used in this method, tissue and cells belonging to someone else are absolutely not used. As you can see, there is no risk of transmission of diseases or contamination etc.

Administration of the stem cells back to the patient

Treatment is done by administrating the stem cells of the patient back to him/her. Stem cells are either administrated into the blood veins or under the skin, or directly in the joint or some other area, depending on the condition.

In the proper environment these stem cells differentiate or change into bone, cartilage, muscle, fat, collagen, nerve, blood vessel and other tissue types. Because of the fact that these are patient’s own cells, there is no risk of infection, allergy or rejection.