Your fat has the potential to heal you.
You read that correctly. Your own fat has the potential to heal you. Reason: stem cells.
The stem cells in an adult body are not the embryonic stem cells that have been the source of so much controversy. They are, in fact, an important part of every human body, with the ability to become nearly any type of functional, specialist cell. When you suffer a wound, the damaged cells put out a call for stem cells. The stem cells flow to the site of damage and start maturing into specialists that are needed to heal and mitigate damage.
There are many stem cells in bone marrow, which is why bone marrow transplants are used in scenarios involving certain types of cancers. The bone marrow ends up in the new host, where the stem cells do just what they’re supposed to: create more blood.
Harvesting and transplanting bone marrow involves making many small punctures in bone to harvest a large quantity (1000-2000cc’s) of marrow and blood cells. The blood ends up back in the body, while a lab processes the marrow to isolate stem cells.
Stromal Vascular Fraction (SVF) therapy is a completely different, cutting-edge way to harvest and deliver stem cells. It involves local freezing, a single site under the skin rather than many bone punctures, and only 50cc’s of fat. How many stem cells do you get per unit from SVF versus bone marrow? Up to 2500 times more! Professionals separate the fat from the stem cells, and the stem cell rich concentrate is injected back into the body where they are required, be it a joint, spine, or bloodstream.
How long does this whole process take? The initial extraction is about twenty minutes (versus an hour with bone marrow), and you can walk out the same day with nothing but a bit of bruising and a new batch of stem cells loaded up in your system.
Although the Nardella Clinic cannot currently administer this treatment in Calgary, we are affiliated with a group of physicians in the United States who perform and research the procedure. Their team is made up of many specialists — plastic surgeons, cardiologists, orthopaedists, urologists, neurosurgeons, interventional radiologists, and more — who are called upon as required. For instance, if SVF involves injection into the spine, an interventional radiologist monitors the procedure during an MRI to ensure precision and safety. Patients who are candidates for the procedure are screened at the Nardella Clinic with our naturopath doctors and then paired with the appropriate team of physicians in California.
The question most people ask themselves at this point is, “who would need this treatment?” The answer to that is the most exciting part. SVF is considered for numerous conditions, from MS to Parkinson’s, Traumatic Brain Injury and Spinal Cord Injury, Lupus to Lyme Disease, and a whole lot more. SVF is also used for repairing physical damage, such as with torn ligaments or osteoarthritis. A cell that can turn into almost anything has the potential to aid in almost anything.
Many conditions require only a single treatment, but every person and every condition is a little different. Time-to-results also varies depending on condition, but patients can start to see results a few weeks after treatment. You can expect continuing improvement in the following months as your body gets control of the situation with the help of the stem cells.
The best candidates for SVF treatment are those who are otherwise healthy and do their best to maintain a healthy lifestyle. In any case, potential patients should undergo nutritional and hormone testing to ensure their body is in an optimum state for healing and recovery. Even someone with minimal body fat can undergo the procedure thanks to the top skills of the physicians involved. The only thing that automatically excludes someone from SVF is if they have active cancer.
SVF is a simple, straight-forward procedure with exciting promise and the potential to speed healing and help your body overcome chronic conditions that just won’t go away. Contact our naturopathic clinic today to find out more.
