"Biologics" involves using growth factors or biological products
such as stem cells and platelet-rich plasma (PRP), substances naturally
made by your body, to help treat and heal various health conditions. In
orthopedics specifically, orthobiologics, a subset of biologics, can be
used as an alternative treatment to care for a wide range of knee and
other orthopedic conditions that might be causing pain or disability.
Relative to some more conventional orthopedic treatments, orthobiologics
is one aspect of medicine that hasn't been around for centuries. As
a result, some misconceptions exist about what orthobiologics treatments
can and cannot do for people with knee conditions.
Before I begin to separate fact from fiction regarding orthobiologics for
the knee, it's essential to understand how these treatments work.
Knee conditions characterized by a breakdown of cartilage often result
in significant knee pain and disability for many people affected by them.
At the most basic cell level, that cascading decline of cartilage health
can't be combatted by the body secreting enough of its own new material
to fix the problem. It's like trying to plug holes in a boat with
a piece of tape. This is where the promise of orthobiologics can become
a viable treatment option.
Orthobiologics involves the use of growth factors used to activate and
stimulate the growth of new tissue in place of damaged tissue and protect
healthy living tissue against future degeneration. Growth factors such
as PRP and Bone Marrow concentrate and stem cells can promote the growth
and repair of damaged tissue in the knee while protecting cells from dying.
Such a treatment modality can be viewed as both healing and protective.
The benefits of orthobiologics, especially growth factor treatments, can
include the prevention of osteoarthritis later in life and preventing
further damage after an orthopedic sports injury.
With a basic framework for understanding what orthobiologics is, its intended
purpose, and its promise, let's check out some facts vs. fiction about
biologics in general:
FACT: The goal of biologics is to use the body's healing power to overcome
knee injuries, restore knee function, and protect the knee from degenerative
damage in the future.
FICTION: Embryonic stem cells are used as "regenerative medicine" or
biologics treatments. On the contrary, most legitimate, physician-lead
medical practices use the patient's own stem cells in their biologics
treatments.
FACT: Biologics can be a helpful treatment tool in helping some patients delay
the need for surgery, especially total knee replacement.
FICTION: Biologics treatments are invasive and painful. In fact, one of the most
significant benefits of biologics treatments for knee conditions is that
they are far less invasive than surgery. Plus, biologics treatments are
usually performed in an office setting without the need for sedation or
significant downtime.
FACT: Using growth factors immediately following a knee injury has solid potential
to stop or reduce cartilage degeneration and can effectively control pain.
FICTION: Orthobiologics is only effective in people over 50. While it is true
that osteoarthritis of the knee tends to affect people most severely after
age 50, orthobilogics holds plenty of promise for younger people, especially
athletes trying to stave off post-traumatic osteoarthritis after a knee
injury sustained at some point in their athletic career.
Some great news for humans is that medicine never takes a day off. With
an aging Baby Boomer generation that is living a longer, more active life
than the generations before it, this is the right time to consider ways
to keep our populous going, using the least invasive methods first, when
possible. New knee treatment options and possibilities are constantly
emerging. The promise that orthobiologics holds is that it can help treat
what's already ailing in the knee, yet it can also protect against
what might befall it down the road. Anytime we can get multiple uses out
of a non-invasive treatment option, I believe that's an option we
should always strongly consider.
Sources:
https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/center-biologics-evaluation-and-research-cber/what-are-biologics-questions-and-answers
https://cartilage.org/patient/about-cartilage/cartilage-repair/growth-factors/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3931137/