MANILA, Philippines Amid the recent warning issued by the Department of Health (DOH) regarding stem cell therapy, doctors who are offering the treatment in the Philippines clarified that they are not promising a cure. We are very careful about claiming cure. These days ang dami nagsasalita, nawala ang sakit. All of a sudden siya (stem cell therapy) na yung magic bullet ng buong mundo, like if you get stem cell, you get cured, said Dr. Michelle de Vera, deputy director of the Institute of Personalized Molecular Medicine at The Medical City. Kapag may narinig na ganyan dapat lalo silang mag-ingat. Cure is zero evidence of disease or kung genetic yung disease dapat napalitan yung genes mo. Hindi mangyayari yun at this point," he stressed. De Vera, an allergologist and immunologist, does stem cell therapy on her patients at The Medical City but he said he believes that the DOH is right in warning patients on stem cell therapy. Tama naman na magbigay sila ng warning,I think what their trying to do is regulate stem cell therapy, the doctor said. Public advisory The DOH recently came out with a public advisory on stem cell therapies saying that there is an "observed … Continue reading →

By Erika Sauler Philippine Daily Inquirer MANILA, Philippines This type of stem cell therapy does not claim to be the fountain of youth, but an alternative treatment to arthritis, muscle pain and tendon tear. Two Filipino doctors who trained in the United States said in a media forum on Sunday that autologous stem cell therapy could speed up the healing of musculoskeletal and sports-related injuries, which could be an optional remedy before undergoing surgery. Dr. Jeimylo de Castro explained that the procedure would involve taking stem cells from the patients blood, fat tissue or bone marrow and injecting them to the injured area of the same person. This type of therapy is different from the controversial embryonic stem cells which are harvested from animals or fertilized eggs. With stem cell therapy being a current fad for anti-aging, the Department of Health has warned the public that the benefits of stem cell therapy are still under evaluation. The DOH will soon issue guidelines for the use of stem cell therapy and the licensing of facilities offering this service. De Castro and Dr. Franklin Domingo are both fellows of the Philippine Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine. They underwent training for stem cell therapy … Continue reading →

Doctors and researchers have long said that stem cell therapy has the potential to change the face of human disease. But what if stem cells could be used to reverse the aging process as well? Plastic surgeons say they can use stem cells to make women look years younger without the pain of an invasive surgery. "I lost weight, loss of volume in face, I looked gaunt and I said, so I said, 'okay what do we do to fix this?'" said Sarah, a patient. The fix for this was a stem-cell face lift. Dr. Steve Szczerba of Chicago Aesthetic Surgery Institute recommended that Sarah undergo a procedure, where he'd use her own adult stem cells to turn back the clock. "A stem cell facelift is rejuvenating the face using grafted fat. Grafted fat has stem cells in it," Dr. Szczerba explains. Grafted fat is transferred fat. Dr. Szczerba typically gets it from the patient's abdomen or inner thigh during liposuction. "During that process of liposuction, we save the fat and take the fat and prepare it for grafting by removing the fluid. And the stem cells along with other grafted fat cells are injected into the face," says Dr. … Continue reading →