Medically reviewed by the Celva medical team · June 2026
We'll tell you
honestly if this
can help.
This is our work with neurologic, cardiovascular, and autoimmune disease: the conditions standard care often can't reach. For the right patient, at the right stage, cell therapy can be worth trying. We run a careful evaluation first, and if the honest answer is "not this therapy," we'll say so.
Cell therapy for complex disease
is real, partial, and
still being understood.
There is credible evidence that mesenchymal stem cells can modulate neuroinflammation and, in specific conditions, support function. There is not yet credible evidence that they reverse established neurodegeneration, regrow myelin at scale, or restore lost neurons in a clinically meaningful way.
We operate in the window between those two statements. For some patients (with the right condition, the right disease stage, and realistic expectations) that window is worth entering. For many, it isn't.
And it is rarely one treatment. The response tends to build as treatments stack, and progressive conditions usually need ongoing care to hold ground and extend it. A process, not a cure.
Everything below is written assuming you want the real picture, not the marketing one.
Could this help you?
Let's look.
Cell therapy doesn't work by diagnosis. It works on biology: the inflammation, immune signaling, and tissue your body still has to work with. So the real question isn't whether your exact diagnosis sits on a list. It's whether your situation has something we can influence, and that's usually only clear once we look.
Active biology
Is there inflammation or immune activity to influence? That signaling environment is where MSCs do most of their work, and it shows up across very different diagnoses.
Tissue to work with
Is there still structure to support? Earlier in a process usually gives us more to build on than later, which is a reason to ask sooner rather than wait it out.
Stable footing
Are you steady on your current care, with your own specialists still directing it? We add to that. We don't replace your medication or your doctors.
Realistic goals
We aim for meaningful change, not miracles. Knowing what "better" would mean for you is part of deciding whether this is worth doing at all.
Neurologic, cardiovascular, autoimmune, and post-viral conditions: from Parkinson's and post-stroke recovery to MS, dysautonomia, and ischemic heart disease. These are examples, not a checklist.
When cell therapy isn't the right tool, like advanced structural loss or an urgent problem that needs a hospital now, we'll say so and point you somewhere better. We would rather turn you away honestly than sell hope we can't support.
Get an honest read on your case →How the cells
work systemically.
For systemic and complex indications the goal is to recalibrate the upstream biology (chronic inflammation, dysregulated immune activity, compromised perfusion, neuroinflammation where present), so the body's own repair machinery can function again. The signaling persists well beyond the cells themselves.
Anti-inflammatory
Reduces the chronic inflammatory signaling that contributes to pain, dysfunction, and progressive tissue damage, systemically.
Anti-fibrotic
Attenuates the fibrotic cascade that replaces functional tissue with scar tissue, a downstream consequence of chronic inflammation.
Immunomodulatory
Recalibrates dysregulated immune activity across the body without systemic immune suppression.
Pro-angiogenic
Supports formation of new vascular networks, contributing to tissue perfusion and a more favorable systemic repair environment.
Neurotrophic
Releases growth factors (BDNF, NGF, GDNF) that support neuronal survival and protect nerve tissue from chronic inflammatory damage.
Anti-apoptotic
Signals stressed, at-risk host cells to survive rather than die, mediated by factors like HGF and IGF-1, preserving tissue that chronic inflammation would otherwise lose.
Systemic and complex conditions, autoimmune, neurologic, post-viral, cardiovascular inflammation, often have immune dysregulation at their core. MSCs work because they recalibrate the immune environment without globally suppressing it the way steroids and biologics do. The downstream effects on inflammation, fibrosis, perfusion, and neurotrophic support follow from the same primary mechanism.
We don't use one cell off the shelf. For neurologic cases, we build on umbilical-cord (Wharton's jelly) MSCs specifically because they secrete higher levels of neurotrophic factors, BDNF, NGF, and GDNF, than marrow-derived cells. That richer signaling supports neuronal survival and the nerve's own repair environment. It's signaling, not tissue replacement, which is also why it has honest limits.
The whole team weighs in,
before any decision.
Before anyone is approved, we gather your complete history and imaging, and the medical team reviews and rounds on your case together. From that, they build a treatment plan made for you, or give you an honest answer that it isn't the right path. We take the time to get it right, not to drag it out.
-
01
Intake & records
Full medical history, imaging, specialist notes, prior treatment trials. We need everything, including what didn't work.
-
02
Coordinator intake & physician team review
45-minute call with a Celva patient coordinator. Celva's medical team then reviews independently, focused on disease stage, medication stability, and whether the evaluation should proceed. Not a sales call.
-
03
Multi-disciplinary review
Each case is reviewed by the physician team's regenerative attending with outside specialty consultation (neurology, rheumatology, cardiology, or other as relevant) and, where appropriate, PM&R review. Multiple opinions inform every decision.
-
04
Baseline capture
If we're considering acceptance: functional testing, autonomic battery, disease-specific scales (EDSS, COMPASS-31, Fugl-Meyer, etc.). Captured before any decision is finalized.
-
05
Decision & plan
One of three outcomes, in writing:
Accept, with a specific protocol, expected magnitude, and measurement plan.
Decline, with the reason, and any referrals we can make.
Revisit, with the conditions under which we would re-open the case.
How selective we are
Complex-disease cohortWe are selective in patient acceptance and only move forward when a case appears clinically appropriate and expectations are realistic. Each application moves through intake, records screen, multi-disciplinary panel review, and a written plan. Cases that don't fit are declined in writing, with a referral when one is available.
What treatment
looks like, for accepted patients.
Systemic and complex protocols are tailored, and no two patients get the same recipe. Most use umbilical-cord MSCs by IV as the foundation, often blended with bone-marrow MSCs depending on your indication, disease stage, and history. For neurologic cases the cord (Wharton's jelly) cells are chosen for their stronger neurotrophic secretome, which supports neuronal survival. Dose is weight-adjusted and tuned to severity. Route and cadence depend on your case; the common architecture is below, and the specifics live in your written plan. Why we use multiple cell types →
- Source
- Multiple allogeneic cell types, matched to your case
- Dose
- Weight-adjusted, set per case
- Delivery
- IV
- Sessions
- 2–3 per year
- Re-evaluation
- At each check-in
- Your records
- Provided to you in full
- Exit criteria
- Agreed with you up front
First treatment & observation
Your first infusion, given under our attending physician's supervision, with structured follow-up in the weeks after.
First decision point
Around three months, we review your progress together: how you feel, your symptoms, and what the labs show. We weigh the full picture, not one number. A further dose is never automatic.
We build on it
When you're responding, treatment continues, with dose and timing adjusted to how you respond. These conditions usually take more than one round, and the benefit tends to grow as doses stack. We keep reviewing at every visit.
Consolidation & exit
When the benefit has consolidated, or further treatment isn't adding enough, we bring the program to a close. You leave with your full records and a clear picture of what changed and what to keep an eye on.
For complex and progressive disease, the response usually builds as treatments stack, each one layering on the last, and that's where the most durable benefit comes. It is not a cure: with a progressive condition, the work is to hold ground and keep extending it, which takes ongoing treatment. We continue only when it's clearly helping.
"I wanted so badly to accept him. He'd already flown to four clinics. What he needed, what would have been honest, was hospice planning and time with his family. We said so. He thanked us. That's the one I think about."
We turn people away when it is the honest thing to do, and we tell them why. That is the standard every case here is held to: we do not treat people we cannot truly help, and the most common reason we say no is simply that the disease is too far along for this to make a difference.
Track-specific
reading.
For patients and families who want the detailed read on candidacy, expectations, and how the evaluation actually works. One page per topic.
Track-specific
questions.
Q.01 Why are you so selective about who you accept?
Q.02 Do you coordinate with my specialist?
Q.03 What happens if nothing measurable changes in my first 90 days?
Q.04 Is this a clinical trial?
Q.05 What's the downside I should know about?
Start with
the evaluation.
Not a sales call. A records review, a screen, and a multi-disciplinary opinion. If we accept you, we'll tell you what to expect. In writing. If we don't, we'll tell you why, and where we think you should look next.