Who is a good candidate for stem cell therapy?
A good candidate for stem cell therapy has a condition the cells have a plausible mechanism for, records the physician team has read, and an expectation the treatment can meet. Celva decides that in four gates (a 15-minute call with a patient coordinator, the records you send, a review by the physician team, and a written answer), and takes no deposit until the physician team signs the case.
See the four gatesHow does Celva decide who is a candidate?
Four gates, in order. Each gate exists because something can be learned at that point that can't be learned later.
Press play to walk through, or click any gate.
Gate 1
First call, 15 minutes
A patient coordinator runs a structured questionnaire: indication, age, comorbidities, current medications, prior cell therapy, recent imaging, and the patient's reason for inquiring. The goal is to identify obvious declines fast: active cancer, active infection, pregnancy, indication mismatch. No clinical promises are made, and a decline comes with the reasons stated.
Gate 2
Records, whatever you have
Your coordinator gathers whatever records you have: imaging, labs, prior specialist notes. No MRI or bloodwork is required to start. When imaging is needed, it is done at Hospital Angeles at no charge.
Gate 3
Physician team review
Reviewed by the physician team, not a coordinator. The team is looking for what the first call couldn't catch: lab abnormalities, contraindications visible only on imaging, prior treatments that change the calculus. It weighs plausible benefit, risks and alternatives. When a neuro or systemic case merits it, an extended call with the physician team comes before the decision.
Gate 4
A written answer, signed
Before scheduling, the physician team signs the case in writing: indication, dose, source, planned protocol, identified risks. You get a written answer and an itemized quote. The answer can be a yes, a decline or a deferral. The sign-off is what unlocks scheduling; nothing scheduling-side moves until it exists.
Each catches what the previous can't. No deposit until the fourth gate produces a written sign-off from the physician team.
Inquiries arrive by form, phone, or referral. A significant share of inquiries are declined. Some are filtered at the first call, and more at the physician team review. Some people decide against it after the written answer.
Why are some people turned away?
The declines fall into a small number of repeating categories. None are personal. All are documented. They protect the patient from a treatment that is unlikely to help or likely to harm, and protect the practice from outcomes that would not survive honest follow-up.
Knowing them in advance saves people a phone call and lets them know whether to inquire at all.
Active malignancy
Active cancer, or remission under 24 months, is declined.
Most common
Patients with any active cancer, or one in remission for under 24 months, are declined for IV MSC therapy. This is caution, not a claim about your case: we will not run cell therapy alongside an active cancer. Some indications use a five-year remission threshold.
Unmanaged infection
Sepsis, untreated HIV, active TB, unresolved abscess.
Common
Untreated infection of any kind, including sepsis, untreated HIV, active TB, or unresolved abscess. Immunomodulatory therapy on top of active infection is a category error. Most cases are deferred, not permanently declined. We reopen after the infection is controlled.
Indication mismatch
No plausible mechanism, or evidence doesn't support the claim.
Common
The condition is not one MSC therapy has plausible mechanism for, or the published evidence does not support the claim the patient is making. We say so directly. Sometimes the patient was sold a story by another clinic; we don't repeat it.
Pregnancy, organ failure
Pregnancy (deferred), end-stage organ failure.
Less common
Pregnancy and breastfeeding (deferred, not permanent). End-stage organ failure: decompensated cirrhosis, ESRD on dialysis, NYHA class IV heart failure (declined; risk > plausible benefit). A blood thinner is not on this list: IV, joint, and spine treatment are all possible once the medical team has reviewed it.
Expectation mismatch
A cure for an incurable condition, or family-pressured "anything."
Uncommon
A patient who wants a cure for an incurable condition, or who is being pressured by family to try "anything." If the first call or the review shows the expectation can't be met, we say so before the deposit, not after the infusion.
Which conditions are treated, reviewed case by case, or declined?
Three columns. Not a complete list, a representative sample of how categories sort.
Treated
Osteoarthritis (knee, hip)
Established mechanism; published evidence for symptomatic improvement.
IV or local depending on joint.
Post-injury / orthopedic
Local application; established orthobiologic context.
Send whatever imaging you have.
Case-by-case
Autoimmune (RA, lupus, MS)
Plausible immunomodulatory mechanism; decided on specifics: stable disease, a specialist of record, realistic expectations.
Not a cure; symptomatic.
Crohn's, ulcerative colitis
Plausible mechanism, mixed published data.
Send your recent GI workup if you have one.
Chronic fatigue, long COVID
Reviewed against current evidence; expectations carefully framed.
Send a symptom diary and any prior workup.
Cognitive / neurodegenerative
Evidence remains preliminary; we are honest about that.
Never offered as a cure.
Cardiac & pulmonary
Stable, controlled disease is treatable; NYHA class IV heart failure is declined.
Send your recent cardiac workup if you have one.
Declined
Active or recent malignancy
Any active cancer, or one in remission for under 24 months, regardless of type or stage.
Five-year remission threshold for some indications.
Pregnancy / breastfeeding
Insufficient safety data in this population.
Deferral, not permanent.
The case-by-case column is where the most careful conversations happen. The decline column is short: decline or defer. No amount of charm on a call changes those answers.
If your condition isn't here, the first call is the right next step.
Book a callThe right question for any program isn't "will you treat me?" It's "what would make you say no?"
What does a no from Celva mean?
Not every inquiry becomes a patient.
The decline isn't punitive. It's the first promise Celva makes. Four gates, five recurring decline categories, no deposit until the physician team signs the case. If your inquiry passes all four, it's because there is real reason to believe the treatment can help; if it doesn't, you save a trip and a deposit.
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The medical-tourism playbook is to say yes. Inquiry forms convert to deposits convert to treatments; the clinics that say yes the loudest are the clinics that grow the fastest. We do not run that playbook. A significant share of inquiries are declined before they reach a deposit.