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Expensive stem cell injections for arthritis prevention becoming popular among US billionaires; do they work?
In recent years, stem cell therapy has been hailed as a miracle cure for a number of conditions, from wrinkles to spinal cord repair. Recently, several clinics in the Bahamas have been offering expensive stem cell injections that may help prevent osteoarthritis and even repair damaged knees. Longevity enthusiasts like billionaire Brian Johnson have received these and are awaiting results. The treatment has not yet received FDA approval, so not much is known about it yet.
Billionaire businessmen and athletes are flying to places like the Bahamas and Panama to get knee surgery
Longevity enthusiasts and arthritis sufferers are spending thousands of dollars to have stem cells injected into their knees. According to experts, mesenchymal stem cells, or MSCs — multipotent cells that can differentiate into a variety of cell types, including bone, cartilage, fat and muscle — are being used by wealthy people, including Brian Johnson, a businessman famous for spending a lot of money on various physical treatments purported to reverse the aging process.
The Mayo Clinic says stem cell therapy is a promising solution to cure various degenerative, traumatic, genetic and autoimmune disorders such as leukemia and diabetes, which has been approved by the FDA. However, using another person’s cells to keep your knees healthy is a relatively new achievement and has not yet been approved.
In arthritis, the cartilage covering the ends of bones begins to deteriorate and wear away. As the bones lose this protective covering, they rub against each other. This leads to pain, swelling and stiffness – and, ultimately, loss of function and mobility.
Millions of people in the United States suffer from knee osteoarthritis. Many people manage their symptoms through exercise, weight loss, medical treatment, and lifestyle changes. And if symptoms become severe, total knee replacement is an option. More than 600,000 people alone undergo this operation each year in the United States. Still, doctors say stem cell therapy could be an alternative to surgery.
And so, billionaires and athletes are flocking to places like the Bahamas and Panama to get knee surgery, according to reports. New York Post,
How does stem cell therapy work?,
Doctors inject healthy stem cells into the person’s body, which help regenerate and repair damaged tissues. Medical experts hope that this therapy using other people’s cells could be used to treat many medical problems.
“I’m really hoping that in the future, when we go to the office for our annual checkup, and we get the flu vaccine, maybe we’ll also get a stem cell boost that will cure our current conditions or delay their onset, healing our bodies in the best way possible, independently of what the genetic lottery has given us,” said Matthias Berno, CEO of the biotech company CellcoLabs, which provided the stem cells for Johnson’s procedure. Business Insider,
Joint regeneration therapy is expensive
However, stem cell therapy is currently extremely expensive and requires further research, especially when it is used for new treatments such as joint regeneration.
Johnson says he spent $16,500 for each injection on his knees. His spokesmen say Johnson was injected with cells from young, healthy Swedish volunteers after extensive evaluation and peer-reviewed studies on potential longevity treatments. However, he hasn’t noticed any major changes yet.
“This is probably because my health biomarkers are already in the top 1 percent in terms of muscle, fat, metabolic health, heart health, etc.,” Johnson explained. Business Insider“Therefore, it is very difficult to improve my subjective sense of health.”
What are its side effects and risks?
Studies show that stem cell treatment for knees is non-invasive, and its side effects are minimal. HealthlineAfter the procedure, some people may temporarily experience increased pain and swelling.
However, when the procedure uses stem cells obtained from your own body, the risk of any serious side effects is reduced. But when they are obtained from someone else and processed, the potential side effects are still unknown.
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