The diagrams above are from a recent study where the stem cells were placed blindly into the joint (intra-articular) versus exactly on the lesion (local adherent). The control was just injection of saline, which is far left. Notice that the purple stained cells on the surface are new cartilage cells (the blue cells under that are bone). The control shows little change. The intra-articular blind injection isn’t much better, and when the cells are placed directly on the specific damaged spot within the joint (far right local adherent) we see good cartilage repair. The same would hold true to injecting cells into a specific tendon, ligament, part of a meniscus, labrum, etc.

Additionally, one problem for collecting bone marrow stem cells is that the area at the back of the hip where they are harvested has some pitfalls. If the doctor performs this type of collection without imaging guidance (blind without using either fluoroscopy or ultrasound), the chance of taking cells from the wrong area goes up dramatically. In this area of the back of the hip, there’s a paper thin part of the pelvis that if tapped by the doctor, will almost always result in a blood collection only, rather than a bone marrow aspirate. Precision is the key to a Regenexx physician’s ability to maximize stem cells during the harvesting procedure.