Chronic prostatitis treatment is challenging and a common disease that has a negative impact on young men’s quality of life. You can read our article about chronic prostatitis here.
Even though chronic prostatitis is treated with current methods, standard treatments might be insufficient to increase the quality of life of some patients. In these cases, alternative treatment methods other than current treatments are investigated. Stem cell treatment is an effective treatment method that has been used in chronic prostatitis treatment in recent years.
What are stem cells?
Stem cells are special cells in our bodies with unlimited division and regeneration capacity. Our body has many stem cell sources. The most accessible stem cell lies between fat tissue. The most important property of stem cells is that they adapt to their environment and transform into other cells. The regeneration potential of stem cells decreases with age.
How does stem cell treatment affect chronic prostatitis?
Stem cell treatment has multiple effects on chronic prostatitis treatment.
- Stem cells have unlimited division and differentiation properties. The purpose is to correct prostate tissue damage with this property and regain a normal anatomy and histological structure.
- Stem cells receive signals from the tissue in their surroundings and decrease inflammation. Thus, inflammation is limited.
- Stem cells have secretions that kill bacteria. Thus, this method is effective against bacterial prostatitis.
- Stem cells stimulate new vessel formation and development in the tissues. Thus, blood flow and tissue healing will accelerate.
Are there different stem cell treatments?
Today, we can see that stem cell treatments are gathered under the same roof. Therefore, we can list the treatment options for stem cell treatment as follows:
PRP: This is the abbreviation for platelet-rich plasma treatment. Actually, this treatment does not use stem cells, but it is listed among stem cell treatments due to its regeneration potential. You can read our article about PRP here.
SVF Stem Cell: The SVF stem cell known as “stromal vascular fraction” involves collecting fat tissue from the abdomen, processing this fat and obtaining stem cells. It is important to use sterile and reliable devices in this process. The SVF contains primer cells, stem cells and mature cells. The advantage of this method is its ease of use. The most important disadvantage is the fact that cell number, quality and differentiation potential can vary among individuals. Therefore, the doctor should investigate the cells under a microscope in SVF stem cell treatment. In addition, 1–5 million stem cells are aimed for with the SVF stem cell procedure.
GMP Stem Cell: GMP is the name for the entire procedure that contains the best production practices. The stem cell for the treatment is selected from the stem cell pool, and a suitable number of cells are injected by the doctor into the penile tissue. The number of targeted cells for erectile dysfunction is 10–15 million. This is an effective treatment option. All cells are produced after the quality control steps. Using the cells of another person does not cause any incompatibility. However, it is possible to multiply the cells collected from the patient’s tissue in the laboratory environment. At this stage, cell preparation will take approximately 15 days.
How is stem cell treatment applied in prostatitis?
Stem cells are applied to the prostate with a fine needle using an ultrasound. This is a painless procedure that can be applied between 1–6 sessions depending on the symptoms. The effectiveness will increase if applied to ESWT(Extracorporeal shock wave teraphy).
Do I have a high chance of benefiting from stem cells?
The most important factors that determine the benefits of stem cell treatment are the severity of the diseases and the compatibility of the patient with the treatment. Therefore, patients must consult a doctor as soon as possible and follow the treatment. Combining ESWT and stem cell treatments increases the success of the treatment.
More than a 90% success rate can be achieved to eliminate chronic prostatitis symptoms through combined treatment.
Stem Cell Side Effects
Stem cell treatment does not have any known side effects. Therefore, this method can be preferred for all prostatitis patients, other than acute bacterial prostatitis cases. The main treatment for acute bacterial prostatitis is antibiotic treatment.
