Best Non-surgical evidence Based treatment for Knee Pain
What is Growth Factor Therapy?
30% of our Pain clinic OPD in Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, and Noida comprise joint pains with most knee pains caused by osteoarthritis. Dr.Anurag Aggarwal, the best pain and spine specialist practicing in Indirapuram, Ghaziabad, and Noida will today discuss about osteoarthritis and the best non-surgical alternatives to treat it.
Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic bone and joint disease characterized by degeneration of joint cartilage that adversely impacts a person’s mobility and quality of life. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 9.6% of men and 18% of women aged ≥60 years have symptomatic OA worldwide.
Cartilage is the slippery tissue that covers the ends of bones in a joint. Healthy cartilage allows bones to glide over each other. It also helps absorb the shock of movement. In osteoarthritis, the top layer of cartilage breaks down and wears away. This causes the bones under the cartilage to rub together. The rubbing causes pain, swelling, and loss of motion of the joint. Over time, the joint also may lose its normal shape.
They often develop slowly and worsen over time, these include:
- Joint may hurt during or after movement which would restrict your daily movements and quality of life. Daily movements which are restricted due to pain are climbing steps, prolonged walking, siting in squatting position and driving
- Joint may feel tender when you apply light pressure to it
- Joint stiffness may be most noticeable when one wakes up in the morning or after a period of inactivity.
- One may not be able to move your joint through its full range of motion.
- One may hear or feel a grating sensation when you use the joint.
What is GFC therapy?
GFC Therapy is the latest nonsurgical therapy to accelerate the natural healing of the osteoarthritic joint.
GFC stands for Growth Factor Concentrate.It is a pure, safe, highly concentrated growth factor preparation engineered from the patient’s own blood for faster &long-lasting results. Various growth factors are stored in our platelets.
GFC is injected into the joint with osteoarthritis, thus, delivering your own growth factors with regenerative potential at high concentration in the affected joint to enhance natural healing& regeneration.
Why GFC Therapy?
It is an innovative therapy, researched and engineered by Wockhardt’s Regenerative Medicine Department & Research Lab. Rather than giving platelets like in PRP treatment, GFC therapy provides a high concentration of patient’s Growth Factors extracted from platelets, which are actual agonists in tissue regeneration & repair. GFC therapy kit ensures release of all GFs from α Granule of platelets with no platelet loss as well as acellularity that is GFC is without unwanted cells like RBCs & WBCs.
1. Next-Generation Therapy
- Innovative & advanced therapy for hair loss, researched and developed by Wockhardt
2. Effective
- High concentration of growth factors promotes naturally & enhances damaged tissue regeneration
3. Safe
- Safe as prepared from person’s own blood unlike artificial toxins/drugs
4. Quality
- Non Pyrogenic (No contamination)
- Zero RBCs and WBCs (WBCs & RBCs are risk for pain & inflammation)
5. Convenience
- Easy, rapid, and consistent GFC preparation
How GFC is prepared?
GFC is prepared from the patient’s own blood. ~ 4 ml of blood is taken in the kit and processed. This usually takes ~ 40 minutes.
Step 1:Collection of Blood – about 4 ml of patient’s blood is drawn in a GFC tube
Step 2: Activation of platelet- Tube is allowed to stand for 30 min (This activates platelets &releases all GFs from α Granules present in platelets
Step 3:Separation of GFC- Centrifugation of GFC tube is done at 3400 rpm for 10 min to separate the pure Growth factors from rest of blood cells (like RBCs, WBCs, etc.)
Step 4:Collection of GFC-By inverting the tube, about 2 ml of GFC is collected in a syringe
GFC thus collected is ready to inject.
How Ossinext-GFC is administered?
GFC is injected into the affected joint, with appropriate aseptic precautions & injection/imaging techniques. Three GFC sessions, one month apart are required for optimal results. However, the number of therapy sessions depends on the severity of the condition and as judged by the treating doctor.
How does GFC Therapy Works?
GFC therapy accelerates the natural healing of affect joints by promoting tissue regeneration, enhancing cartilage synthesis& faster soft tissue healing. Thus, it helps in reducing pain and improving the quality of life.
GFC exerts these beneficial effects via various growth factors present in GFC like platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA), soluble receptor of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-αR), transforming growth factor β(TGF- β), platelet factor 4 (PF4), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), epidermal growth factor (EGF), insulin-like growth factor (IGF), osteocalcin (Oc), etc.
What are the possible Side effects?
Since GFC is prepared from your own blood, it is safe has no negative effect. Moreover, it is pure & does not contain any RBCs or WBCs(unwanted cells)unlike PRP, therefore the risk of pain and inflammation because of GFC itself is minimal. The reactions are injection-related &of mild to moderate impact. These usually resolve in few days. Most of the patients tolerate GFC therapy very well.
What are the advantages of GFC therapy?
- Nonsurgical treatment
- Safe as prepared from your own blood
- Sterile, no chances of infection
- High concentration of your own growth factors for enhanced benefits
- Few, monthly sessions- No daily treatment
- Lunch time procedure
Who are eligible for GFC therapy?
Patient of osteoarthritis with,
- Mild to moderate firm swelling around the joint
- Limited range of motion of the joint
- Pain with movement of the joint which gets worse especially towards the end of activity or end of day
- X-rays- Cartilage loss is revealed by a narrowing of the space between the bones in the joint.
- Any other patient as per judgement of treating doctor
What are the other conditions, GFC Therapy can treat?
GFC therapy can be used to treat various musculoskeletal injuries. This innovative and minimally invasive approach can treat a wide range of conditions and areas of pain, including:
- Hip and Ankle OA
- Hip, knee, and shoulder pain
- Chronic tendonitis/tendinosis in the elbow, hip, or knee, foot, and ankle
- Tennis Elbow
- Plantar Fasciitis
- Acute ligament and muscle injuries in athletes
How Ossinext GFC is different from Any PRP?
| Criteria | Any PRP | Ossinext- GFC |
| Discovery | Old treatment | The latest therapy, Researched & developed by Wockhardt |
| Prepared from Own Blood | Yes | Yes |
| Outcome is | Platelets with some unwanted cells | Only a High Concentration of Growth factors derived from Platelet activation |
| Consistency of Outcome Amount | Variable | Consistent |
| Number of session required | More | Less |
| Pain & inflammation | Moderate Chance | Very Low Chance |
| Risk of infection | Present | Not present as completely sterile |
PRP- Platelet Rich Plasma; GFC- Growth Factor Concentrate
For more details mail us at www.painxtotal@gmail.com or WhatsApp Dr. Anurag Aggarwal @9958830005 or visit our clinic https://www.facebook.com/www.painx.in/