CosmeticSurg blog: Expert insights from Dr. Ricardo L. Rodriguez

New evidence points to an improvement in vascularity and blood flow when stem cells are more concentrated in the fat to be transplanted. For therapeutic approaches, reproducible protocols of adipose-derived stem cells isolation and a large amount of cells are necessary, in order to respond to the increasing demand. Therefore, to practically understand what happens when adipose tissue is manipulated in the operating room, we studied the most common methods of fat processing employed by most plastic surgeons, in order to see which method yields the highest quantity of stem cells.

Anyone who reads this blog knows that we are passionate about the future of adipose stem cells, the stem cells that are derived from your own fat. Many people know about their ability to enhance fat grafts for Breast reconstruction, but we hear very little in the general media about their ability to cure and treat many diseases. Unless you are a biotech investor hanging out in Cytori message boards, you may not know that many Phase I clinical trials with adipose stem cells have even been completed.

Dr. Ricardo Rodriguez, a Yale trained plastic surgeon has been offering Virtual consultations for several years. Patients can discuss surgical possibilities with Dr. Rodriguez before taking the trip to Baltimore for an office consultation. Consultations can be performed in english, spanish, or french , as Dr. Ricardo Rodriguez is fully trilingual. Watch his virtual consult video and make your appointment now.

What is the difference between IV sedation and general anesthesia? Dr. Hobelmann is a Board Certified Anesthesiologist who works with Dr. Rodriguez when he performs cosmetic surgery cases. Watch the video to learn why Dr. Hobelmann thinks IV sedation provides advantages over general anesthesia.

While much of our web site is dedicated to learning about cosmetic surgery and preparing for your procedure, we would like to talk about the recovery period following any cosmetic surgery procedure. In your pre-operative appointment, which usually occurs the week before your surgery, Dr. Rodriguez and the Surgical Coordinator will review your post op instructions. They will give you a description of what you should expect following your cosmetic surgery. Dr. Ricardo Rodriguez uses smart cell phone technology to keep in touch with his patients during the immediate post op period.

We attended Robin Young’s 6th annual Stem Cell Summit which was held this year on March 1st in New York City. Also in attendance were scores of public and private stem cell companies. Presentations included 21 adult stem cell companies, 3 embryonic companies, 7 device/instrumentation companies, and a panel of medical experts discussing Spinal Cord Injury. Each company gave a 10 to 15 minute presentation but we most enjoyed Dr. Arnold Caplan’s keynote address. Not only is he well known in academic circles, but he is no stranger to the biotech financial community, as he was the founder of Osiris Therapeutics (Nasdaq: OSIR), a publicly traded cell therapy company. Here are some highlights we took away from Caplan’s keynote speech entitled, The State of MSCs in 2011. If you are interested in stem cells from adipose tissue, you don’t want to miss this!

Fat grafting, also known as fat transfers or fat injections, is a plastic surgery procedure which removes fat from unwanted areas of your body, carefully processes the fat, and then reinjects your own adipose fat tissue where more volume is desired. Fat injections can help rejuvenate your face, your buttocks, your hands, or your breasts. Fat injections are also being used in breast reconstruction surgery. Fat grafting will restore volume to the breast and can be performed with or without an implant. Lately we have seen some plastic surgery blogs expressing concern regarding how fat injections to the breast affect mammograms. We feel that both sides of the story are not being told, so we would like to address that here.

President Obama ordered federal agencies, such as the FDA, to search their books and strike any overburdensome regulations. In June, the FDA quietly posted a request for comments to any existing regulations that are burdensome or outdated by technology. We passed the link on to Professor Mary Chirba who then submitted comments to the FDA regarding autologous stem cell therapies. She has graciously given us permission to post her comments here on our blog.

Unless you are a science major, understanding the topic of stem cells can be daunting. The mainstream media has provided some good articles on the topic of stem cells, but there is a lot of misleading information out there. Often times mainstream media lumps all stem cells into one category to imply that all therapies are a decade away and that very little clinical data exists. That is simply not categorically true. In an effort to give you a mile high view of the stem cell world, we made a graphic, Stem Cell Types – Debunking Misconceptions.

Several years ago we became fascinated with the potential of adipose stem cells for both cosmetic and medical purposes. However, we soon discovered that nothing in the written FDA guidelines specifically addressed the use of autologous adipose stem cells. Thus began our journey for an answer. In June 2009, we sent a letter to the FDA asking for a position statement on adipose stem cells. Our request focused specifically on autologous, freshly isolated, adipose stem cells for use in reconstruction. These stem cells are from your own fat, for your own usage, and not culture expanded in a lab. After a very long wait, we recently received a written response from the FDA. First, a little bit of background for any stem cell newbies….

While Friday the 13th may be bad luck for some, such was not the case for the U.S. stem cell industry. On Friday, April 13, the Texas Medical Board (TMB) approved the first set of regulations which will allow physicians to offer autologous adult stem cell therapies. And on Monday, April 16, the Wall Street Journal posted an Op Ed piece written by the former FDA commissioner in support of stem cell therapy. Read on to learn why these recent news items may just spell good news for the stem cell industry, and regen medicine.

This week I will focus on whether each of the 54 existing adipose stem cell trials used autologous or allogeneic stem cells. This analysis therefore includes all adipose clinical trials, regardless of recruitment status. Why is knowing whether a clinical trial used autologous or allogeneic adipose stem cells important? It is important because each category represents a different sector of the health care industry. Thus, it gives a hint as to whether Pharma, Device Makers, or Personalized Medicine are leading the new era of Regenerative Medicine.

Spain…soccer world superstar. But what about stem cells?! If there was a world cup for stem cells, Spain would get that too! While Spain is the world leader of Soccer, they are also the dominant player in a new arena of stem cell research. According to information publicly available at ClinicalTrials.gov, Spain is the leader in clinical trials using adipose stem cells. And just like Soccer, compared to other countries, it’s not even close! adipose stem cell clinical trial leaders As of early June 2012, Spain has registered at least 18 different clinical trial locations using adipose stem cells. Mexico and Korea are next with 11 and 10 trials respectively. And what of the great USA, the hot bed of medical innovation? We have a grand total of 3 trials. We pose the question: Has any U.S. money gone to funding these overseas trials?

It’s been over two months since I updated my database of Adipose Stem Cell Clinical Trials. I am tracking registered Clinical Trials in the ClinicalTrials.gov database. A lot has happened in only two months! Eight new Clinical Trials have been registered in the ClinicalTrials.gov database since June 1, 2012. This brings the all time total of Adipose Stem Cell Clinical Trials to 62.

This year marked the 10th anniversary of IFATS, the International Federation for Adipose Therapeutics and Science, an organization which includes scientists and Medical Doctors from a wide range of specialties. The conference was held in Quebec, Canada and included over 100 abstracts, most of which focused on on Adipose Stem Cells. Abstracts and keynotes were presented form three categories of research: basic science, translational science, and clinical research. There were many exciting findings, but here’s a summary of highlights we found most interesting.