Stem cell therapy in Bangkok Thailand for osteoarthritis, osteoporosis

Osteoarthritis (OA), the most common form of joint disease, is characterized by degeneration of the articular cartilage and, ultimately, joint destruction. Currently, OA is a major cause of disability in the elderly; the prevalence of this disease is expected to increase dramatically over the next 20 years with an increasingly aged population. The burden of OA is exacerbated by the inadequacies of current therapies. Nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic treatments are used for early and moderately early cases of OA, but protection of articular cartilage has so far not been convincingly shown.

Surgical intervention is often indicated when the symptoms cannot be controlled and the disease progresses. Whether arthroscopic lavage and/or debridement can provide symptomatic relief is unclear.

Methods for the repair of articular cartilage lesions include the transplantation of osteochondral grafts, microfracturing, and autologous chondrocyte implantation, with or without the assistance of a scaffold matrix to deliver the cells; however, all of these techniques are limited to the repair of focal lesions. Consequently, patients with OA are currently excluded from these treatments. In the case of joint malalignment, osteotomy can provide pain relief for several years, until the new weight-bearing articular cartilage erodes, but this tactic merely buys time until a total knee replacement becomes necessary. The challenge for researchers to develop disease-modifying OA treatments is, therefore, of paramount importance.

Adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), which have the ability to differentiate into cells of the chondrogenic lineage, have emerged as a candidate cell type with great potential for cell-based articular cartilage repair technologies. MSCs can be isolated from a variety of adult tissues, readily culture-expanded without losing their multilineage differentiation potential, and have been induced to undergo chondrogenic differentiation in vitro and in vivo. Unlike chondrocytes, the use of MSCs is not hindered by the limited availability of healthy articular cartilage or an intrinsic tendency of the cells to lose their phenotype during expansion. The use of MSCs also obviates the need for a cartilage biopsy and, thereby, avoids morbidity caused by damage to the donor-site articular surface.

If you are suffering from OA, Bangkok Thailand could be the perfect place to look into stem cell therapy for your osteoarthritis ailments.