Here at Duke Orthopedics we're looking for
ways to help people who have some
mild to moderate osteoarthritis that
wanna be comfortable and active,
and try to avoid an knee replacement or
prolong that need as long as possible.
These are mesenchymal stem cells where
we take the cells from your own body.
We either harvest them through our fat or
bone marrow, process those in
a simple way, either centrifuge or
filtering, and then inject them back into
joints or muscle and tendon injuries.
We've felt good about doing this
because we know our body has ability to
heal itself.
We're using our own cells in the case
of the mesenchymal bone marrow and
fat to do these procedures.
And so people are looking for ways to
have their own bodies heal themselves.
It's actually a simple lipoaspiration
where we take just fat,
usually from from the buttocks or flanks
and centrifuge that down or filter that.
Harvest those cells and then inject them.
One thing here at Duke,
do all the injections under ultrasound
guidance because of the accuracy.
We want to make sure
that we're in the joint.
Most patients when they come and want to
know more about this procedure they ask,
what's involved, how long does it take?
And then how long will it last.
Looking at three year data show that 70%
noticed improvement in activity and
decreased in pain.
And so we've been doing that for past few
years and having some decent results.
With following these patients.
