Bone Marrow
Bone Marrow (BMA)
Bone marrow cells reside deep inside our bone cavities. In this very protected part of us, marrow cells are redundant and are throughout the bones in our bodies. The ability to use marrow as a simple aspirate, or as a concentrated sample, deliver millions of these therapeutically beneficial autologous cells.
When extracted, bone marrow can be used in its raw form as a simple aspirate or processed to create a concentrated sample. Both forms are rich in autologous cells—cells harvested from and reinfused into the same individual. These cells include hematopoietic stem cells, which can differentiate into various blood cells, and mesenchymal stem cells, which have the potential to develop into bone, cartilage, or fat cells. The high concentration of these cells in bone marrow samples makes them invaluable for therapies aimed at regenerating damaged tissues, treating certain cancers, and boosting the immune system.
In medical treatments, such as bone marrow transplants or regenerative therapies, millions of these autologous cells can be delivered to target areas, accelerating healing processes, enhancing immune responses, and providing a significant therapeutic benefit. The use of autologous cells significantly reduces the risk of rejection, as the body readily recognizes these cells as its own.
Did you know?
There are relatively few risks in using bone marrow for treatment. Keeping sterile technique and following proper protocols makes a bone marrow injection very safe.
The Do's and Don'ts of Bone Marrow
The Do’s
For a bone marrow procedure, discuss both Pre and Post injection protocols with your patient. Being active, eating healthy, and being well hydrated are three pre injection Do’s that lend to better biologic treatment outcomes. Post injection protocols should be on restoring functional movement.
The Don’ts
Don’t use non FDA cleared devices. The FDA has stated their position on bone marrow, use medically cleared devices that meet the current guidelines. Safety and Efficacy to the patient is paramount.
After a bone marrow injection, the patient may need further injections or none at all. The goal is to heal the illness or injury forever and not need further treatment. A bone marrow injection will bring significant numbers of hematopoetic stem cells to the area of injury or illness. The bodies natural healing cascade will take effect and use these transplanted cells to remodel the area. Patients can expect to be going through this remodeling phase for up to 12 weeks.
A bone marrow aspirate procedure will usually take about 60 minutes. Patients can drive themselves or have someone with them depending on day of treatment instructions from the physician. Where appropriate clothing. A procedure gown may be provided by the doctor. Immediately following a bone marrow procedure, the site of injection will probably be more sore than the harvesting location. The local anesthesia used wears off and pain relief medicine may be prescribed or recommended. Post injection protocols will be designed to restore functional movement.
Properly aspirating and appropriately administering bone marrow cells is significantly enhancing and exactly mimicking the body’s natural healing process. Marrow based treating compositions are cell dose dependent and take advantage of marrow stem cells and complementary cells’ abilities to alter the type and function of local cells. This creates an immune driven cascade to transition and amplify the cellular inventory needed to complete the remodeling phase of the healing cascade. Counting cells that reside only in marrow and not blood is a key measure to determine the quality of a marrow sourced biologic. Given the limitations of flow cytometry and the fact that CFU-f reside in marrow and not blood, having a high CFU-f count will correlate with other rare marrow and accessory cells; the full complement of these marrow cells is what drives the transition from inflammation to proliferation and remodeling.
