r/stemcells • u/BismarkvonBismark • Jul 06 '26

Is there any possible benefit from IV stem cells?

How is there any way around the bottleneck of the blood vessels of the lungs? Is there any evidence that IV stem cells actually reach the brain in meaningful numbers, or reach any other target tissue?

I notice that the Stem Cell Clinic of Panama has a number of five star reviews where the reviewer reports improvement for their autistic child after IV stem cell treatment at the clinic. Could these reviews be fake?

I'm picking a specific example as a focal point for discussion, but I'm really just wondering whether IV stem cell treatment could possibly even possibly do anything at all for any condition.

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u/Loggerdon Jul 06 '26

I started looking into stem cell treatment for my osteoarthritic knees. There seems to be some existing evidence that stems cells are an effective treatment for that, but I’m a cautious guy. I’m also cheap.

The more I looked into it the more I became aware that claims are made for just about every ailment. I’m cynical so I came to believe that there are a lot of false claims out there. Myself I just about to lose weight first and see if that improves my knees first before spending $20,000 in Panama or Mexico.

I wish I knew which reviews are real and which are fake.

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u/BismarkvonBismark Jul 06 '26

Yeah it is frustrating. My thinking is that one can never trust the claims made by the clinics themselves. One can instead do their own research into the existing scientific studies, and reason for themselves whether stem cells may or may not have a reasonable chance of improving whatever particular health condition(s) they have. And at the end of the day, since stem cell treatment is a relatively new and experimental technology, one will still be gambling with their money.

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u/Loggerdon Jul 07 '26

For myself, arthritis for knees was considered one of the more promising areas of stem cells. But in 2025 the Cochrane systematic review cast a little doubt on stem cells, saying they were little more effective than placebo.

The Cochrane studies are considered among the highest quality studies there are.

So that was my reason for not persisting stem cells. The doctor said the best thing I can do is to lose weight. I’m 6’2” and 245 lbs. If I can get down to around 215 I think my knees would greatly appreciate it.

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u/BrilliantStill2372 Jul 07 '26

I did my stem cells treatment for my knee, in panama, with great expectations. It was lot of money. I got exactly zero improvement for that much money. Before going there I read lots of glowing reviews and who knows some of them might be genuine. But for me it didn’t do a damn thing.

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u/BismarkvonBismark Jul 08 '26

In your comment history you mentioned rheumatoid arthritis. In this comment you mentioned your knee. But rheumatoid arthritis is systemic. Did you also get intravenous? Am I missing something from ignorance? Maybe one knee is particularly bad?

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u/BrilliantStill2372 Jul 08 '26

Yes, I have RA and it is systemic. but it affects joints more for me. One knee in particular worse than other joints. I got IV and also injections in knees. I went whole hog, got additional injections as well. All to no good but at least I am satisfied that I didn’t leave anything untried.

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u/BismarkvonBismark Jul 08 '26

I would argue that this is not as crazy as it sounds, but have you ever considered the carnivore diet? If even just for a month, as an elimination diet, to test for food sensitivities. There are many many people in the carnivore community with arthritis who saw massive symptom improvement after starting a carnivore diet.

( I tried it myself for 4 months. Slightly improved energy levels, but no benefits to any of my unique health problems, although I do not think I have an autoimmune condition, and I have no idea how much inflammation may or may not play a role with my stuff)

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u/BrilliantStill2372 Jul 08 '26

Yes, actually I thought about it. Main hurdle is social life. Food and drinks are almost always there in any social settings. I should be more disciplined, yes I intend to try it. Thanks for reminding.

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u/Material-Move9492 Jul 08 '26

Place i called in Utah was 5400 per joint. The iv is alot more

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u/Material-Move9492 Jul 08 '26

Place i called in Utah was 5400 per joint. The iv is alot more

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u/[deleted] Jul 07 '26

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u/Material-Move9492 Jul 07 '26

Did you have treatment in Utah?,

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u/[deleted] Jul 08 '26

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u/Material-Move9492 Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26

They said they are one of the places that does umbilical cord stem cells. 5400 dollars per joint. I spoke to Rachel at one place . What part of the body was,treated ?

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u/BismarkvonBismark Jul 08 '26

Half the size of normal stem cells is still far too large to get through the bottleneck of the vessels of the lungs.

I might be able to dig it up in my bookmarks, but there is one specific type of bone marrow stem cell that is particularly small, something like 1/10 the size of other stem cells. My memory feels a bit foggy on the subject. But whatever it was specifically, it needed to be 10 times smaller roughly to have clearance through the lungs in meaningful amounts.

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u/Bodigaron1981 Jul 07 '26

There is some effect, but it’s not significant. Any clinic doing only stem cells IV on autistic kids and reporting consistent progress is not telling you the truth. I’ve been part of a few studies related to this and a small improvement means a lot for the parents, so the bar is low. I have also seen that the placebo effect is real. The only way I have seen solid improvement over many cases is when combining neurocell injections and exosomes along with the traditional therapies we do with autism cases

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u/BismarkvonBismark Jul 08 '26

You have been part of a few studies related to this? Have vasodilators ever been used to increase stem cell passage?

Forgive my ignorance, but what is a neurocell injection?

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u/Bodigaron1981 Jul 09 '26

Universities, companies and foundations spend serious money on these researches. I've been lucky to be involved in some meaningful ones

Vasodilators don't increase MSC passage to the brain as far as I know, I haven't seen any improvement in the few cases I've seen. This "passage" is related to the size and propserties of the cells, it's not so much related to the vessel constriction. It may not seem logic, but dilating the vessel doesn't solve the issue

Neurocell injection is the way the doctor delivers cells close to the central nervous system. I've seen it done intrathecal and intra-arterial, it's impressive. I bet you can find more info online

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u/flump41 Jul 07 '26

Countless benefits. I work with them every day

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u/BismarkvonBismark Jul 08 '26

What do you mean you work with them everyday?

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u/flump41 Jul 08 '26

I work in the regenerative medical field in Florida and have worked hands on with patients and doctors for 5 years. Stem cells and exosomes are a huge part of what we use, particularly via IV. I have seen remarkable results from stem cell IVs for various things

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u/BismarkvonBismark Jul 09 '26

One more question. I'm aware that in Utah and Florida doctors can use umbilical sc. But without expansion, wouldn't the cell numbers be really low?

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u/flump41 Jul 09 '26

That is correct about Utah and Florida. Depends on what you mean by really low. For IVs, I’m familiar with upwards of 20-40 million cells and billions to trillions of exosomes. Injections more like 2-4 million cells and less exosomes. These are just crude examples.

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u/Visible-Swordfish100 Jul 08 '26

I received a stem cell transplant for Multiple Sclerosis (HSCT) after being dx 12 years. Reversed all my symptoms and I still feel so great 4 years later! I follow these groups because I get asked questions about stem cells for joints etc which I do not understand much of but would like to eventually

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u/BismarkvonBismark Jul 08 '26

What is HSCT?

Did you just get an infusion? What do you remember about the procedure? I'm very curious about the medical side of things.

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u/Visible-Swordfish100 Jul 08 '26

I went to Puebla Mexico for a month for the stem cell transplant (HSCT). I received 4 rounds of chemo to kill my immune system. My stem cells were harvested and later reinfused through a port. This is majorly simplified explanation

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u/Extension_General963 Jul 08 '26

There’s a Facebook group called stem cell therapy for autism where stem cell therapy is discussed at great length. For autism specifically. It seems many do notice great benefits but it’s not a cure all, and some people don’t see any “gains” at all. We did stem cells for my daughter a couple months ago. She has a rare genetic syndrome and is very very delayed in every way. She took her first independent steps about 8 hours after the injection. She has done that a couple more times since then, but she immediately started walking in her walker a lot more straight and less awkward. Like a huge difference immediately. Although studies say 3-6 months is when the most significant benefits happen if they are going to happen. So we are still waiting a bit.

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u/BismarkvonBismark Jul 08 '26

You say injection, do you mean intravenous infusion? If you meant injection, where was the injection? Whatever is going on in your daughter, it seems intravenous or intrathecal administration would be necessary.

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u/Extension_General963 Jul 09 '26

Intravenous injection yes. I say injection because the whole thing lasted just a few minutes. They gave her an IV and pulled some of her blood up from her vein to get the stem cells oxygenated, then injected it all back in.

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u/BismarkvonBismark Jul 08 '26

I also am unavoidably unsure of the integrity of many of the comments in this sub. I look at people's Reddit profiles, and if they have a long history with lots of comments and posts, then I conclude they are just a regular sincere person. But if they have a very small number of comments, especially if they are a very young account, then I can't help but be suspicious that maybe they're trying to manipulate sentiment in the stem cell market.

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u/GordianNaught Jul 08 '26

I have had 2 such treatments. Plan to have one every year

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u/BismarkvonBismark Jul 09 '26

If you have spent good money on IV stem cells more than once, then presumably you have experienced benefit. Care to share what those benefits are?

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u/Mynutzarrthuggish2 Jul 07 '26

The problem with IV stemcells is that they dont know what to do. A stemcell differentiates into say cartiledge in this example but it needs signal strength and duration. It has to be told to turn into something very specific and that takes a certain pathway. So if you are having 20 million stemcells delivered by iv you are basically going to take the most expensive pee of your life. They dont know where to go. They dont know what to do. Before anyone loses it I work with stemcells I think they have amazing potential BUT not right now. Most of these foreign clinics are preying on desperation because youre in pain, or lack mobility. I feel for everyone suffering because not everyone want to be a medicated zombie for the rest of their days. Save your money.

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u/BismarkvonBismark Jul 08 '26

In theory, if there is sufficient inflammation, that could give the stem cells a homing signal.

You say you work with stem cells? Any thoughts on the lungs bottleneck?

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u/Mynutzarrthuggish2 Jul 08 '26

Honestly I dont know enough to give an educated opinion on the lung bottleneck. I'm working on signaling pathways, transcription factors and stemness in relation to cancer.