Right now, the two biggest questions you should be asking yourself if you are contemplating Stem Cell Therapy for any ailment are:
1) How much evidence is there regarding stem cell treatment for my particular condition?
2) Who should I consult with and let treat me with stem cell therapy?
Insulin-secreting NeoIslet made from adult mesenchymal stem cells and pancreatic islet cells. Image courtesy of SymbioCellTech, LLC.
Both these questions should not be taken lightly and require significant understanding of what quality stem cell therapy can and cannot do for any particular condition. Equally as important, what constitutes a stem cell expert today is a particularly scary topic. The short answer to the latter, seems to be just proclaiming yourself an expert is about all it takes. Just in the past 18 months alone, the number of "stem cell clinics" in the United States run by so-called experts has proliferated from a mere handful to over 600. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the practitioners running these highly profitable cash-based clinics have no background or expertise in the field of stem cells and are looking to quickly cash in on a very vulnerable public. In fact, entire networks have now been set up by chiropractors and alternative health practitioners to lure unknowing patients into their clinics to get what they are touting as "Miracle Cures" for a myriad of conditions and charging exorbitant prices.
Never in the more than 30-year history of modern stem cell science or Regenerative Medicine has the chiropractic or alternative medical community been at the forefront of this burgeoning and very complex medical specialty. Hence, this is not where you want to go to get stem cell therapy. It's only because of media hype and recent lapses in FDA enforcement of the Code of Federal Regulations that these unscrupulous actors have been able to propagate.
“Never in the more than 30-year history of modern stem cell science or Regenerative Medicine has the chiropractic or alternative medical community been at the forefront of this burgeoning and very complex medical specialty.”
Fortunately for the public, the FDA sounded the alarm last month putting the entire stem cell therapy community on notice, including medical doctors and non-MDs alike. The FDA has already begun raiding and shutting down the most dangerous and unethical clinics around the country but eventually hopes to find the resources to police the entire field, which is long overdue. Until that time comes, it has been left to the medical community to remain the watch dogs over this promising field and help ensure that the proper narrative and appropriate stem cell treatments get dispensed in the coming years. This is no easy task, as the scientific medical community and the alternative non-medical communities are vehemently opposed regarding best practices and the ethicality of treating patients without appropriate data or the FDA's blessing. In a word, it's a cluster.
So, where does this leave you regarding the questions stated above. Who should you talk to and who, if anyone, should you let treat you with stem cells? Unfortunately, without FDA enforcement and appropriate oversight from state medical boards and professional societies, it is a buyer beware environment, something that never should occur in medicine but is now becoming more and more the norm.
“It’s only because of media hype and recent lapses in FDA enforcement of the Code of Federal Regulations that these unscrupulous actors have been able to propagate.”
My advice is to only speak to a medical expert with a true bonafide background in Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine and who has been in the field for at least 10 years or more. These "medical" physicians (MDs & DOs) are out there and can be found in most areas of the country. Unfortunately however, their voices and presence are becoming more and more overshadowed and drowned out by the marketing blitz of chiropractors and alternative charlatans self-proclaiming expertise in the space.
DO NOT LET A CHIROPRACTOR (DC) OR A NATUROPATH (ND) TREAT YOU WITH STEM CELLS!!
This is a medical therapy that is beyond their scope of practice regardless of what they tell you or advertise in the paper or on the internet. Any chiropractors or alternative medical provider that is offering stem cell therapy is blatantly and unethically practicing way outside their field and professional training and hopefully soon they all will be shut down by the FDA and individual state medical societies.
As a physician and surgeon with a 23-year background in Stem Cell Science, Cell Therapy & Regenerative Medicine, I am always more than happy to speak to and consult with anyone contemplating stem cell therapy and help guide them to getting the real answers and finding the right practitioner for a particular medical condition. Ultimately, the answer regarding the appropriate treatment may or may not include stem cell therapy.