Placental Tissue and Amniotic Products

The placenta (supporting the growth and development of the fetus) and the amniotic membrane (the inner layer of the placenta and amniotic fluid that surround the fetus) are rich in amino acids, peptides, vitamins, trace elements, growth factors, nutrients and biologically active components.

Recently placental and amniotic derived products have been promoted as providing live stem cell therapy. It has been shown by the Interventional Orthopedics Foundation and many other research laboratories that no live stem cells are derived from cryopreserved amniotic and placental products.

Regenerative medicine promotes the “process of replacing, engineering or regenerating human cells, tissues or organs to restore her establish normal function.”  This field holds a promise of engineering damaged tissues and organs via stimulating the body’s own repair mechanisms to functionally heal previously unrepairable tissues or organs.

One of these methods is placental tissue and amniotic products. If chronic soft tissue, joint, neck or back pain is preventing you from enjoying your life or threatening to result in surgery or joint replacement, placental tissue or amniotic products may be the answer for you.

Your body contains a variety of highly specialized cells that work together with other cells in your body to heal damaged tissues, and these products can facilitate this process.

Our joints, cartilage, ligaments, muscles and bones are constantly breaking down/deteriorating due to wear and tear and injury. Our body naturally helps rebuild and heal these joints with the help of a variety of cells and growth factors.

Unfortunately, as we age both the number and potency of our healing cells decrease in this regenerative process loses effectiveness. This helps explain why when we cut our finger at age 8, the wound heals quickly and without a scar, whereas the same cut finger at age 50 takes much longer to heal and may result in a scar.

In the simplest terms, placental and amniotic tissues takes advantage of your body’s ability to repair itself. With placental and amniotic tissues, a small amount of this tissue product is injected into your damaged joint, spine or wound.

Not only does placental or amniotic tissue therapy provide anti-inflammatory benefit seen with “cortisone injections” (“steroid shots”), it also has numerous other regenerative benefits that makes cellular therapy with placental or amniotic products a superior nonsurgical treatment for chronic joint pain, tendon tears, and cartilage damage .

The natural cells and the other natural biologic components contained in placental tissue and amniotic products are:

• Safe
• Effective
• Free of tissue rejection concerns because of amniotic cells immune privilege status
• Easy to administer
• Anti-inflammatory (reduces pain and stiffness)
• Contain hyaluronic acid (improves joint mobility)
• Contains growth factors that stimulate stem cells to work at maximum capacity
• Do not require an invasive procedure to obtain
• Less expensive and much less difficult to obtain than cells obtained by other methods such as bone marrow or liposuction
• Commercially available and simple to use

The fact that 1) placental tissue products come from the maternal placenta, 2) amniotic products are produced from the amniotic membrane and umbilical cord, and 3) amniotic fluid is disposed by hospital personnel after newborn delivery, eliminates ethical, political and moral concerns once associated with stem cell therapy.

Not only do the mothers who donate their placentas and amniotic fluid and membranes undergo rigorous health screening and have their pregnancy closely monitored, their baby must be born healthy and numerous other criteria must be satisfied in order for the placental and amniotic products to be accepted and processed by an FDA-cleared lab.

The possibilities with this cellular therapy are limitless. Treatment with placental and amniotic product therapy has the potential to dramatically improve, or even cure, hundreds of musculoskeletal, wounds and other conditions.

The role of cellular components and regenerative medicine “stems” from their ability to transform damaged tissue into healthy, revitalized (new) tissue. The placental and amniotic products are introduced in the body by injection to replace diseased or injured cells and body tissues or organs, where they then regenerate the damaged/unhealthy tissues (damage resulting from aging trauma, disease, etc.) into healthy cells and healed tissues.