Stem cell therapy questions, and the page that answers each.
We did the reading for you. Six questions sit behind treatment abroad, and each Learn page is filed under the one it answers.
Can’t find your question? Ask us and we’ll track down the answer.
Why do patients go outside the U.S.?
The four FDA rules in 21 CFR 1271, what U.S. clinics offer, and what to weigh before you decide.
- Is stem cell therapy legal in the U.S.?It depends on a four-part FDA test in 21 CFR 1271.10. Each part in plain English, with examples from clinics.
- What U.S. stem cell clinics offerAlmost always same-day SVF, bone marrow concentrate, PRP or amniotic product, not cultured cells. What’s in each one.
- Clinical trial, or paid treatment abroad?A U.S. stem cell clinical trial costs you nothing, may give you placebo, and takes about 14 months to start. Paid treatment abroad is faster, not a trial.
- Is medical tourism safe in Mexico?It depends on the procedure, the country, the facility and how the trip was organized. Five things to verify before you book.
Why Mexico, and not Panama or Cayman?
Why we built Celva in Mexico, 25 to 30 minutes from San Diego, and where Germany, Japan and Panama are ahead.
- Why Americans go to MexicoWhat Mexican regulation allows, how close Tijuana is, and how the border crossing works.
- Panama vs. Mexico vs. CaymanWho regulates the cells, where they’re made, and how long the trip takes from the U.S.
- Germany and Japan vs. MexicoGermany’s hospital exemption, Japan’s 2014 law and COFEPRIS compared, and the trip from the U.S.
- Tijuana or Cancún?Why the border and not the beach, how patients cross, and when Guadalajara or Monterrey fits better.
- Where is stem cell therapy legal?No international body regulates it. How Mexico, Panama, Cayman, Germany, Japan and Colombia each regulate it, and who is in charge.
- The sources behind this sectionEvery factual claim the Why Mexico pages make about Mexico, COFEPRIS, the private-hospital network, travel and the wider regulatory map, with its source.
What kind of stem cells are used?
It depends on the clinic. Celva’s three cell types, how each lot is tested, and what to ask a clinic.
- Are all stem cells the same?No. Two clinics offering “stem cell therapy” can deliver fundamentally different products. The six differences, and twelve questions to ask any clinic.
- Umbilical cord, bone marrow, or fatThe three sources compared on cell age, yield, harvest, and standardization, and which one Celva’s physicians use for what.
- Allogeneic vs. autologous: a donor’s cells, or your ownAllogeneic stem cells come from a screened donor. Autologous cells are your own. How the two differ in MSC therapy, and which one Celva uses.
- What “cGMP-compliant” meanscGMP is the manufacturing standard for the lab that makes the cells, not a credential a clinic holds. What it requires, and three questions to ask a clinic.
- Is 100 million stem cells a lot?A quoted 100 million says little alone. What counts is how many are confirmed MSCs, how many are alive after thaw, and the dose per kilogram.
- The certificate of analysis: what gets testedEvery test run on a batch, its spec and the measured result: sterility, identity, viability, potency, endotoxin, mycoplasma.
Why inside Hospital Angeles Tijuana?
A multi-specialty hospital with an on-site ER and ICU: the physicians, the safeguards, who we decline.
- The physicians who treat youDr. Cesar Amescua, Dr. Rocio Ambrosio Nuño and Dr. Alejandro Castillo: what each physician is responsible for and when you meet them.
- A hospital, not a clinicCelva operates inside Hospital Angeles Tijuana, a 116-bed acute-care hospital. What’s in the building, who inspects it, and five questions to ask.
- What “hospital setting” meansOn a clinic’s website it can describe three different arrangements. The four things it should mean, and three questions to ask a clinic.
- Side effects, and when something goes wrongSide effects by frequency: mild flu-like symptoms after an IV, expected soreness after an injection, rare serious events, and the protocol.
- Who is a good candidate?A condition with a plausible mechanism, records the physician team has read, and realistic expectations. How Celva screens and declines.
- What happens after: the follow-upFollow-up calls at 1 week, then at 1, 3 and 6 months, then once a year. Who calls, what we ask.
What does stem cell therapy feel like?
From the 45-minute infusion through the first year: the early lift, the middle that is the hard part, and who should come with you.
- Recovery, week 1 to month 12What most patients report after an IV or an injection, what’s normal, and when to call.
- A caregiver’s guideFor the spouse, adult child or friend traveling with a patient: the one day at Hospital Angeles, what to pack, and what to watch for at home.
- Who this isn’t forCelva declines or defers stem cell therapy for active cancer, untreated infection, pregnancy and four other conditions. The full list, and what depends on specifics.
- The history of the cells, 1968 to todayMesenchymal stem cells were first described in 1968 and named in 1991. The five eras, twelve landmark papers, and the products regulators have approved.
How do you compare stem cell clinics?
28 questions to ask every clinic, and Celva beside four other clinics, each in its own published words.
The primer, and three pages to keep open in another tab
The primer
What cell therapy is, and is not. The place to begin if all of this is new.
Stem cell glossary
39 terms, from allogeneic to Wharton’s jelly. Each has a plain-English definition first and the technical one underneath.
How to read a clinical study
Which study designs carry more weight, the six sentences of an abstract to read first, what the abbreviations mean, and eight phrases to slow down on.
Frequently asked questions
40 short answers on treatment, safety, and travel.
No page here uses that word. Rare, given how much we’ve written.
Try a shorter word, or ask us and we’ll track down the answer.
The library can’t tell you whether you qualify.
Only the physician team’s review of your records can, and a significant share of the people who ask are declined.