Where do stem cells come from?
Adipose tissue covers a large area of the body. It plays a significant role by storing energy for the body's needs. It is also the best source of ASC (Adult Stem Cells) in the human body. Its advantages include accessibility and abundance, as well as the fact that the cells do not require laboratory culturing. Numerous studies confirm that adipose tissue contains nearly 75 times more stem cells than bone marrow.
In adults, stem cells are obtained from three sources:
Adipose tissue – during a single procedure, approximately 15 to 60 million stem cells can be harvested, of which over 90% can differentiate into tissues other than blood.
Bone marrow – a single procedure yields approximately 50,000 stem cells, the majority of which differentiate towards blood cells.
Peripheral blood – a single collection yields approximately 10,000 stem cells, of which 50% will be blood cells and the remainder can differentiate into other tissues.
Adipose-derived stem cells have the capacity for unlimited proliferation (division) and the ability to differentiate into and form a variety of tissues. These properties, combined with the high availability of the source material, give them enormous potential in the field of tissue regeneration and repair. Adipose tissue in the form of a stem cell regenerate is a safe and very promising treatment modality across a wide range of aesthetic medicine, plastic surgery, and orthopaedics.
Degenerative joint disease
Degenerative joint disease is a progressive process of articular cartilage damage that causes joint pain and stiffness. It results from prior inflammatory conditions — including rheumatoid arthritis — injuries or minor damage, and sometimes simply from the ageing process. Recent studies have shown that stem cells derived from adipose tissue can differentiate into cartilage and bone, offering potential treatment options for degenerative joint disease. Stem cells from the patient's own adipose tissue, injected directly into the joint, promote regeneration and repair of damaged articular cartilage and tissues, and reduce joint inflammation and pain. The repair process takes several months, although some patients report improvement within just a few weeks. In the treatment of inflammatory and post-traumatic conditions of tendons and ligaments (e.g. tennis elbow), stem cells are administered locally around the damaged structures.
How does the procedure work?
Stem cells obtained from the patient's own adipose tissue have a significant advantage over cells from bone marrow due to their accessibility and abundance. At the same time, the harvesting procedure is less painful for the patient and carries minimal risk. Adipose tissue is harvested via liposuction (under local anaesthesia) from the abdominal area through two small skin incisions (3–4 mm). Following the procedure, the patient wears a compression elastic belt for one week to prevent haematoma formation after the surgical intervention.
Stem cells from adipose tissue are activated using platelet-rich plasma (PRP) obtained from the patient's venous blood. The resulting preparation is then injected directly into the joint.
