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Patient guide

Knee Osteoarthritis,
explained simply.

Cartilage in your knee has worn thin. Bone is rubbing on bone. Conventional medicine offers anti-inflammatories, then injections, then replacement. Stem cell therapy offers a fourth option — but only for the right candidate.

Talk to a doctor
At a glance
Treatment time
90 days
Sessions
1–3
Recovery
Same day
Improvement window
6–12 weeks
Cost range
$8.4k–$18k
Candidacy rate
~62%
Outcome data: J. Regen. Med. 2024, n=842

Three things
your cells do
that medication can’t.

diagram · MSC paracrine signalling
01

Modulate inflammation

Mesenchymal stem cells release cytokines that quiet chronic inflammation — addressing the cause, not the symptom.

02

Recruit local repair

Cells signal to nearby tissue, attracting your body's own progenitor cells to the site of damage.

03

Differentiate into tissue

In the right environment, MSCs become cartilage, tendon, or other connective tissue cells your body needs.

What actually happens.

WEEK 0

Initial consultation

Video call with physician (45 min). Review of imaging, history, and goals. Honest assessment of candidacy.

WEEK 2

Records review & protocol design

Multidisciplinary team reviews your case, designs personalized protocol, and provides written treatment plan with full pricing.

WEEK 3

Cell harvest

Outpatient procedure. Bone marrow aspiration from iliac crest under local anesthesia. ~45 minutes. Walk out the same day.

WEEK 3–6

Cell expansion under GMP

Cells are cultured in our cleanroom under Good Manufacturing Practice. Quality testing at multiple checkpoints.

WEEK 6

Reintroduction

Cells administered intravenously and/or to the affected joint under ultrasound guidance. 90-minute appointment.

MONTH 3

First follow-up

Imaging + clinical evaluation. Most patients report meaningful improvement at this point.

MONTH 12

Outcomes assessment

Comprehensive follow-up. Data anonymized and contributed to our outcomes registry.

03 · Outcomes
n=842 · 12-MONTH FOLLOW-UP

What “improvement”
actually looks like.

84%

Reported clinically meaningful pain reduction (≥30% on VAS)

71%

Returned to activities they had stopped (walking, golf, hiking)

58%

Reduced or eliminated pain medication

12%

Reported no meaningful change at 12 months

Honest caveat:Stem cell therapy works for some patients and not for others. We don’t yet have a perfect predictor of who will respond. We will tell you, before treatment, our honest assessment of your likelihood of meaningful benefit. If we don’t think you’re a strong candidate, we’ll say so.

Things people ask
before booking.

Autologous mesenchymal stem cell therapy is performed under FDA's 'minimal manipulation, homologous use' framework (21 CFR 1271). Our facility is FDA-registered and inspected; specific protocols are reviewed by our IRB. We're transparent about what's approved, what's investigational, and what's available only via our research partnerships.

No. We use autologous adult stem cells — meaning your own cells, harvested from your bone marrow or adipose tissue. There are no ethical concerns, no rejection risk, and no need for immunosuppression.

Most patients begin noticing improvement between weeks 6 and 12. Peak benefit typically arrives at 4–6 months. Some conditions, particularly autoimmune, can show response within 2–3 weeks; others take a full year to plateau.

Treatment ranges from $8,400 to $24,000 depending on protocol complexity and number of sessions. Most insurance does not currently cover stem cell therapy. We offer 0% financing through CareCredit and have a financial counselor on staff.

Most common: soreness at injection site (3–7 days), mild fatigue (1–2 days), low-grade fever (under 1% of patients). Serious adverse events from autologous cell therapy are exceedingly rare in published literature; we'll review the full risk profile during your consult.

Find out if this is right
for you.

The fastest way to know is a 30-minute conversation with one of our physicians. Free, candid, and you can walk away with the records review either way.