CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – As regenerative medicine continues to grow, more and more groundbreaking procedures being used to help patients get on the path toward healing.

Dr. Scott Wagner, owner of Advanced Pain Management of Virginia, is on the forefront of regenerative medicine, and is using yet another innovative treatment to help relieve pain in his patients — the Adipose procedure.

Using your own cells for healing

Adipose is more often known as simply body fat. Wagner explained that most people’s primary source of fat comes from the back of their hips, and those fat cells have, like every cell in the body, stem cells. Wagner said this fat is often referred to as one’s “primary fat.” Those are the cells Wagner and his team harvest using a procedure known as microcannulas fat extraction, which is similar to liposuction. Afterward, the cells are then extracted using a centrifuge, which takes about 45 minutes to an hour and 10 minutes.

The result is 10 million stem cells from each milliliter of fat. Wagner said what one of the things he likes about this procedure in particular is that patients know exactly where the stem cells are coming from — themselves.

“I’m taking it from you, and I’m giving it to you,” he said.

Storing cells for later

Aside from the assurance that the stem cells are coming directly from his patients, Wagner said one of the benefits of Adipose is the ability to store the stem cells for later. Thanks to a court ruling from three years ago, Advanced Pain Management of Virginia can send two of the 10 mL of stem cells harvested to a government-certified lab in Florida.

What this means for his patients is that years after their initial procedure, they can receive additional touch-ups and treatments using the two mL of stem cells that have been in storage, rather than paying the set rate of $5,000 per mL for additional stem cells. Those stem cells are also still 20 years younger than the patient who extracted, so even if they wait a few years, the cells will still be effective.

Helping relieve pain

But how exactly are the cells used during treatment? Wagner said the stem cells from adipose are “tremendous” for pain relief, because of the volume of cells. The cells are designed for joints and ligaments, making them much less fragile than those extracted from placenta. Wagner said placenta cells are so expensive they’re often used for just tears, but adipose can be used to target pain areas as well as the contributing degenerative areas.

Adipose has even been used to help heal chronic pain, which Wagner said can be difficult as the body often gets used to chronic pain over time, making it harder to full stimulate full recovery. But thanks to adipose, testing is showing that it can happen in older patients.

“We’re actually seeing healthy tissue be replaced by the human body,” he said.