Regenerative treatment for Arthritis of Hip & Knee
Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis. The patient’s quality of life significantly gets affected and deteriorates due to increased pain and loss of joint function. So far treatment for osteoarthritis has been losing weight, exercise, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and intra-articular injections of steroids or hyaluronic acid. In advanced cases replacing the joint is a gold standard.
Regenerative treatment is being tried primarily in osteoarthritis. It has 2 areas.
- Tissue engineering: here the tissue which has been damaged is created.
- Self-healing: this involves the use of stem cell injections or blood products PRP to push the body to repair itself.
Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP):
PRP is probably the most widely performed procedure for treating arthritis of the hip or the knee joint. Blood is drawn from the patient and is centrifuged to separate the platelets from other blood components. The platelets are then injected into problem areas (joint). Benefit: We normally give between 1 – 3 injections in the space of 6 weeks. It does not take much time to do the procedure and can be done as an outpatient procedure. The effects can last up to 6 months.
Mesenchymal Stem Cell treatment:
Stem cells are mainly in the bone marrow and fat. These stem cells are used for this procedure. The stem cells are separated from other tissue components and are then injected into your painful joint.
This is believed to initiate tissue regeneration in the joint. Stem cell therapy for the treatment of arthritis is an ongoing research area but early data has shown promising results and it is likely that one day it may become an accepted treatment option. For now, it remains costly and experts remain cautiously optimistic.
Microfracture or Nanofracture:
This procedure involves drilling tiny or very tiny holes in the bony layer under the defect. This causes blood clot formation which eventually causes fibrocartilage to grow over it. Fibrocartilage, though is not as durable and long-lasting as your natural cartilage which is hyaline cartilage.
Cartilage transplantation:
In this procedure, a plug of cartilage and bone is taken either from a healthy part of your knee or from a tissue bank. The plug is then transplanted into the cartilage defect.