Regenerative Medicine Study

The regenerative medicine team at Jordan-Young including David Levi ,MD, Scott Horn, DO and Sara Tyszko, PA are leaders in the field of regenerative medicine. They published the first high quality research on a new treatment for discogenic lower back pain, platelet-rich plasma. The results have been presented at numerous international spine meetings By Dr. Levi and Dr. Horn. The results were published in the prestigious journal Pain Medicine.
Intradiscal Platelet-Rich Plasma Injection for Chronic Discogenic Low Back Pain: Preliminary Results from a Prospective Trial. Levi D, Horn S, Tyszko S, Levin J, Hecht-Leavitt C, Walko E. Pain Medicine 2016;17(6):1010-22.

This study investigated a new treatment for low back pain. It is known that, for about half of patients suffering from low back pain, the source of discomfort stems from the intervertebral disc. This disc can develop small tears in the outer portion, which are often painful. The team injected a concentrate of the patient’s own blood, rich in growth factors (Platelet Rich Plasma or PRP), directly into the painful disc or discs, on the hypothesis that the growth factors might help heal the disc tears. Results were included for 22 patients who suffered for years with moderate or severe low back pain. The treatment required about 3 months to work and at the 6 month mark about half the patients reported that the treatment had eliminated at least 50% of their pain, with function also improving considerably. At the end of the study period, 2 out of 3 of the patients who responded to the treatment rated their pain as less than 2 out of 10.

Dr. Levi, Dr. Horn and Sara Tyszko are currently conducting a high level research study for discogenic low back pain using patients own stem cells.