§ 4.6 · Section 4 · The year after the infusion

What follow-up actually looks like.

Seven check-ins across twelve months, starting with a coordinator call at 24 to 48 hours. The same coordinator at the early calls; the same physician at the clinical reviews. The measures that fit your case, repeated the same way. The treatment is one day. The relationship is a lifetime.

12-month follow-up arc
Live
0 3M 6M 9M 12M 24–48H WK 1 M 1 M 3 M 5 M 9 M 12
Check-ins
7
Domains
7
Span
12mo
0
Scheduled check-ins
24–48 hr · Wk 1 · M1 · M3 · M5 · M9 · M12.
0
Outcome domains
A fixed schedule. A battery tailored to each patient.
0
Loop steps
Capture → aggregate → decide → apply.

Prefer to watch?

Most clinics end at the airport.

This page is a 7-minute read. The video walks through what happens after the infusion: the seven check-ins across the first year, who runs each call, and what gets measured along the way. Keep scrolling for the full version.

Rather read? The full breakdown continues below

The treatment is one day. The relationship is a lifetime.

Most regenerative-medicine clinics end the relationship at the airport. The infusion is on Tuesday, the discharge papers go home in your bag, and the next time anyone calls is when a marketing email asks if you want to come back. We don't operate that way. Partly because it would be irresponsible, and partly because we cannot improve a protocol whose outcomes we don't track.

The follow-up cadence below is what every treated patient gets by default. It is not a premium add-on. It is included for every treated patient.

Cadence 01WHENThe seven touchpoints

Seven calls. One year.

Each call has a defined purpose, a defined owner, and a defined record. The first is short and operational; the rest are longer conversations with your treating physician. Press play to walk through, or click any point on the rail.

§ Figure 4.6.1 · Follow-up cadence · 0–12 months post-infusion

The cadence, walked through.

Auto-play steps through each check-in in sequence.

01 / 07
24–48 hr
Coordinator check-in
Week 1
Safety check
Month 1
Early response
Month 3
First outcome window
Month 5
Mid-term review
Month 9
Late-term review
Month 12
Durability check
Check-in 0124 to 48 hours
Coordinator check-in · first contact home.

The first call after discharge. Your patient coordinator confirms you arrived home safely, sleep and recovery are on track, no infusion-site reaction, no acute concerns. This is the call that catches anything that needed catching within the first day.

If anything is off, the coordinator triages directly to the treating physician the same day.

§ Travel-home safety§ Infusion site§ Sleep§ Acute concerns
OwnerCoordinator
ChannelPhone
Duration10 min
RecordChart note
Check-in 02Week 1
Safety check · operational.

The week-one call. Your patient coordinator confirms you are safe: no adverse events, no infusion-site reaction, sleep recovering, basic recovery on track. The goal is not to assess response; it's to catch anything that should not be unaddressed.

If anything is off, the coordinator triages directly to the treating physician within the same business day.

§ Adverse events§ Infusion site§ Sleep§ Triage path
OwnerCoordinator
ChannelPhone
Duration15 min
RecordChart note
Check-in 03Month 1
Early response · first signal.

The first conversation with the physician who treated you. Pain scores, sleep, mobility, mood. We are looking for early signal, and for any expectations that need to be re-set before they harden into disappointment.

Most response is gradual; some patients see early shifts, some don't. The physician's job at this call is to interpret the early data, not to oversell it.

§ Pain VAS§ Mobility§ Medications§ Expectations
OwnerTreating MD
ChannelVideo
Duration30 min
RecordScored note
Check-in 04Month 3
First outcome window · the primary data point.

The primary outcome window for most indications. Validated scores (WOMAC, ODI, HAQ, PROMIS-10, indication-specific), labs where relevant. This is the call where most of the year's "did it work?" signal is generated.

The score on the chart at month-3 is the score we'll be comparing against at month-5 and month-12. Same scale, same patient, same physician.

§ WOMAC / ODI / HAQ§ PROMIS-10§ Labs§ Imaging if indicated
OwnerTreating MD
ChannelVideo
Duration30 min
RecordFull battery
Check-in 05Month 5
Mid-term review · are gains holding?

Trajectory check. Are the gains we saw at month-3 holding? Any drift in scores, in medication, in daily function? Imaging where indicated.

This is also the conversation about boosters, and the place where we say "not yet" or "not indicated" if the data doesn't support it. Most patients don't need one.

§ Repeat scores§ Imaging§ Booster decision§ Trajectory
OwnerTreating MD
ChannelVideo
Duration30 min
RecordTrajectory note
Check-in 06Month 9
Late-term review · holding past the plateau.

The nine-month check. By now the response has settled into its plateau. We repeat the validated scores and read them against month-5: holding, drifting, or fading. For most patients this confirms a durable result; for a few it is where an early regression gets caught.

It is also where the maintenance-infusion conversation gets real for the patients whose scores have started to slip. Most do not need one.

§ Repeat scores§ Trajectory§ Maintenance decision§ Regression watch
OwnerTreating MD
ChannelVideo
Duration30 min
RecordTrajectory note
Check-in 07Month 12
Durability check · the full-year review.

The longest call. Full-year review: all seven timepoints on the same chart, durability of response, what changed, what didn't, what we'd do differently. Next-step recommendation: repeat, watch, refer, discharge.

The data from this call also feeds the protocol-improvement loop for the next patient with the same indication.

§ Year summary§ Durability§ Next step§ Cohort feed
OwnerTreating MD
ChannelVideo
Duration45 min
RecordYear report
Domains 02WHATThe data we collect

The schedule is fixed. The questions are yours.

The cadence is the same for everyone. What we measure on each call is not. Safety and your primary symptom come up every time. The validated function scores, the quality-of-life battery, and repeat labs run when your condition calls for them, not on a fixed rule. Hover a domain row or a timepoint column to see how they intersect. Filled dot = scored every relevant call. Light dot = discussed, not formally scored. Blue ring = run when it fits your case. Open dot = not part of that call.

§ Figure 4.6.2 · Outcome domains × check-in schedule

Seven timepoints. A battery per case.

Scored
Discussed
When it fits
Not in call
Domain
24–48 hr
Wk 1
M 1
M 3
M 5
M 9
M 12
Adverse events & safetyReactions · hospitalization · infection
Pain (VAS / NRS)0–10 indication-specific pain
Function (WOMAC / ODI / HAQ)Validated score · when your case fits
Quality of life (PROMIS-10)Physical + mental · when your case fits
Sleep & moodBrief screening · flagged for follow-up
Medication changesOn / off / dose-changed since treatment
Labs / imagingWhen your indication calls for it

Whatever we track for you, we track the same way each time. That is how a clinical signal is told apart from a memory effect.

Loop 03USEThe closed loop

The closed loop. Outcomes feed the protocol.

The follow-up data isn't filed in a drawer. De-identified outcomes are reviewed quarterly, fed back into the treating protocol, and shape what we recommend to the next patient with the same indication. Click any step.

§ Figure 4.6.3 · The outcomes feedback loop · quarterly cadence

Four steps. One direction. Repeat.

Capture without aggregation is filing. Aggregation without decision is reporting. Decision without application is theater.

01 Capture 02 Aggregate 03 Decide 04 Apply Quarterly REVIEW
STEP 01Capture at the call.

Validated scores, adverse events, medication changes, free-text physician notes, recorded in the integrated chart, not a separate spreadsheet.

STEP 02Aggregate by cohort.

De-identified data grouped by indication, dose, source, age range. Quarterly the team reviews the cohort signal, not single anecdotes.

STEP 03Decide what changes.

Our physicians review and propose protocol changes: dose adjustments, candidate criteria, follow-up frequency. Decisions documented.

STEP 04Apply to the next patient.

Updated protocol applied to subsequent intake. The patient at month-12 helped shape the consent the patient at month-0 is signing.

Channels 04MEASReported vs. measured

What patients say vs. what we measure.

"How are you feeling?" is the first question and a useful one. It is also the only question some clinics ask. The follow-up program captures both, patient-reported experience and clinically-validated measurement, because they answer different questions, and the gap between them is itself a signal.

01§ Channel 01 · Patient-reported
What the patient tells us.
  • 01
    Pain VAS / NRS scoresPatient-reported 0–10 across primary symptom.Subjective · high signal for the patient's own experience
  • 02
    Activities of daily livingStairs, sleep, time on feet, exercise return.Context · not formally scored every call
  • 03
    Mood & satisfactionBrief screening; flagged if it shifts.A signal in its own right · not a treatment outcome
  • 04
    Free-text feedbackThe "what surprised you" and "what didn't" notes.Mined for protocol-improvement themes
02§ Channel 02 · Clinically measured
What we measure.
  • 01
    Validated functional scoresWOMAC (joint), ODI (back), HAQ (autoimmune), MSIS (MS).Standardized · comparable across patients & literature
  • 02
    PROMIS-10Physical and mental health composite, normed to general population.Apples-to-apples with published trial data
  • 03
    Indication-specific labsInflammatory markers, autoimmune panels where relevant.Repeated at month-3 and month-12 windows
  • 04
    ImagingMRI repeated about annually for joint cases; ultrasound more often if you return for treatment.Objective structural change · where applicable

Reported and measured are both real. They diverge sometimes, a patient who feels better with a score that hasn't moved, or a score that has moved with a patient who hasn't noticed. The divergence is interesting, not a problem. It is the conversation at month-5.

The bottom line

The infusion is one day. The relationship is a lifetime.

The structured year is where the relationship starts, not where it ends. For a joint, the goal is years of relief before you need us again, sometimes a decade, sometimes never. Stem cells are not a cure, and we will not pretend otherwise.

For a neurodegenerative, autoimmune, or complex case the goal is different: stacked treatments over time that move quality of life, because we are managing a condition, not erasing it. Either way, the door does not close in December. The relationship is the data, and the data is the protocol.