By CONWAY MCLEAN

A senior citizen goes to the doctor with a complaint of pain from their wrist. They are prescribed a 3 week course of an anti-inflammatory. The drug provides noticeable benefits, with a significant decrease of pain. When the drug is discontinued, the pain returns.

The prescription is renewed, and the discomfort is again largely resolved. Yet, the damaged tissue producing the pain remains unhealed, unattended, problematic. Chronic use of these medications, which is common, can lead to heart attacks, kidney disease, GI bleeds, and more. Not everyone taking these for years has a problem; it’s a matter of percentages, it’s all in the numbers.

An individual with diabetes develops the nerve changes typically associated with the disease. They begin experiencing a burning sensation from their feet. Distinctly unpleasant, the sensation is prominent at night, making sleep difficult. When next they see their primary care provider, the topic is broached, and a prescription is generated.

Lo and behold, the medication eventually results in a great reduction in this unpleasant sensation. They assume it is treating the nerve problem, when actually the drug is merely a pain reliever. Unfortunately, this fact was not revealed to them. They develop an ingrown toenail, which normally is painful, but they did not experience this alarming sensation because they still had neuropathy. An aggressive infection developed requiring an amputation.

The pharmaceutical industry has had many vaunted successes, allowing healthcare providers to treat many life-threatening conditions. But too often, drugs are merely a band-aid, alleviating the discomfort of some complaint without resolving it, without healing. Regenerative medicine takes a different approach, working to enhance the process of healing and repair, whether it be a torn tendon or arthritic joint. The potential of regenerative medicine is tremendous. Rather than perform surgery, with its labor and resource-intensive requirements, the potential for complications, what if we could improve our capacity for healing?

A newly established branch of medicine is referred to as regenerative medicine, with the primary subject of investigation being stem cells. RM aims to enhance our naturally occurring healing mechanisms, which tend to go awry on occasion. This can be achieved via a number of techniques, from tissue engineering to the use of the aforementioned stem cells, which are special “primitive” cells capable of forming most any tissue type. These unique cell types are abundant in a fetus but can still be found in an adult and can be recruited to the site of injury or disease.

Many experts believe these futuristic methods hold the promise of saving millions of lives by curing diseases we have previously considered incurable, ubiquitous conditions such as diabetes, stroke, paralysis, and heart attacks. The replacement of lost limbs could become a reality with continued research and understanding of the minutiae of the process of healing.

But this is not the stuff of fantasy and is being utilized in clinics and homes throughout the world. Some methods have received considerable press, with their success resulting in increased penetration into the massive marketplace that is American medicine. Platelet-rich plasma, referred to as PRP, is an injection technique using the patient’s own blood. Overtaking PRP in popularity is the injection of a fluid derived from a placenta following a planned C-section. This material is loaded with growth factors which stimulate the recruitment of those all-important stem cells.

A particularly strange therapy uses basically the same technology as lithotripsy (in which sound waves break up gallstones), but for the healing of an injured part. Apparently, this causes the deformation of cells, triggering chemical changes associated with healing. The technology, termed extracorporeal shock wave therapy, won’t harm tissue, and requires no rest or downtime following treatments. It can lead to tissue repair, the hallmark of these regenerative concepts.

An even older form of regenerative medicine involves the injection of an irritant, a substance which irritates the tissues. The body responds with acute inflammation, the process ultimately resulting in healing. Chronic inflammation is quite different biochemically, experienced as some painful condition that does not resolve in a timely fashion. This technique, termed prolotherapy, has been in use globally for over 70 years.

Perhaps the least understood form of RM involves the application of pulsing electromagnetic fields (aka PEMF therapy) to the site of disease. The earth produces such a field, without which we cannot survive. The subtle energies of PEMF produce no side effects or complications and appear able to relieve pain as well as stimulate healing.

There are many areas of modern medicine where the standard of care is fundamentally limited, and minimally effective at leading to resolution, a cure if you will. The potential for an approach like this is limitless, with a broad range of indications, from cancer to neurological diseases, cardiovascular, and a host of others. The different directions of study for RM currently being evaluated reveal the tremendous scope of possible benefits.

Each day brings advances in this exciting new field of medicine; where can they lead? Our physical form seems predetermined from the moment we are a fertilized egg. The single cell divides into two and from this initial doubling, the human form eventually results, with its specialized organs and bones, muscles and nerves. How does this occur from the genetic constitution of a single embryo, armed with only 46 chromosomes? When we can answer these kinds of questions, we’ll be on our way to growing replacement parts in a laboratory.

Research into tissue regeneration and organ growth has increased exponentially, with genetic manipulation techniques becoming better established. The not-so-distant future portends the re-fashioning of cells, the formation of various tissue types, the growing of some particular organ or limb. Once the stuff of fantasy, regenerative medicine is on its way to becoming science fact.