Orthopaedic practice in Mannheim, Germany, with a second site in Dubai, treating joint and tendon problems with cells taken from a patient's own fat tissue.
CellReg is the cell therapy service of an orthopaedic practice run by Prof Dr med Gerald Zimmermann, with premises in Mannheim, Germany and a second location at the German Medical Center in Dubai Healthcare City, United Arab Emirates. Its focus is orthopaedic: worn, injured and inflamed joints, tendons and ligaments.
The treatment offered is called stromal vascular fraction, usually shortened to SVF. A small amount of fat is drawn from the patient through a three-millimetre needle puncture under local anaesthetic. That fat is processed in a laboratory to separate out a mixture of cells, and the concentrate is then returned to the patient, either injected into the affected joint or given as an infusion into the bloodstream. The procedure is done as a day case and the practice says patients can return to normal activity within a few days. A blood-derived preparation the practice calls autologous conditioned plasma may be used alongside it.
CellReg also offers to bank a patient's fat-derived cells so that further treatments can be given later without repeating the fat collection. Unusually for this field, the practice publishes its prices in full, including the way costs rise under the German private medical fee scale, and it states plainly that German state health insurance often does not pay for this treatment while private insurers sometimes pay part or all of it.
The list is mostly orthopaedic, but it also includes psoriasis and rheumatism, which are quite different sorts of illness. Ask what evidence supports the treatment in your own condition.
All cells used come from the patient's own body; no donor or umbilical cord material is mentioned.
The German site is Praxis Prof Zimmermann, Collinistrasse 11, 68161 Mannheim, telephone +49 (0) 621 43 999 811 or +49 (0) 621 43 999 810. The Dubai site is the German Medical Center FZLLC, Ibn Sina Building 27, Block B, Dubai Healthcare City, United Arab Emirates, telephone +971 4 24 805 74. Treatment is given on an outpatient basis under local anaesthetic. The website does not state when the practice was founded, and does not list opening hours or a formal international patient programme.
Prices are published in full. Treatment of one region such as a knee, hip, shoulder or sacroiliac joint, or of several small joints, is quoted at 3,300 euros; two major regions at 5,400 euros. Under the German private fee scale the practice indicates costs may reach 6,200 to 9,900 euros. Collecting and storing cells in the cell bank is quoted at 10,000 euros, with a later application to a large joint at 3,800 euros. The practice states that German state health insurers often do not cover these costs and private insurers sometimes cover part or all of them.
Profile compiled from information published on the clinic's own website and from the StemCell Registry directory record. Details may change; confirm directly with the clinic before making decisions.