Dr. Blake Ohlson on the Health Links podcast. Despite the video's title referring to robotic-assisted surgery, the conversation focuses almost entirely on the rising field of orthobiologics and regenerative medicine as a conservative alternative to invasive surgeries.
1. Shift Toward Conservative Care
- Surgery as a Last Resort: While trained heavily in surgery, Dr. Ohlson emphasizes that his practice prioritizes conservative treatment. Patients often want to avoid surgery due to anxiety, anesthesia risks, high costs, and lengthy recovery times.
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Full-Spectrum Treatment: Being surgeons allows them to guide patients through the entire continuum of care—from physical therapy and orthobiologics to surgery if it eventually becomes necessary.
2. Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) Therapy
- What it is: A baseline regenerative treatment where a patient's blood is drawn, spun in a centrifuge, and separated into layers. The target is the middle "buffy coat" layer containing a high concentration of platelets.
- The Importance of Platelet Count: Dr. Ohlson notes that older PRP systems only yielded around 2.5 billion platelets, but clinical studies show efficacy drops significantly if you fail to reach 3.5 billion. Their modern system harvests up to 10 billion platelets per sample to maximize healing.
3. Advanced Cellular Therapies (Bone Marrow & Microfat)
- FDA-Approved Options: For advanced joint issues (like severe arthritis), they use autologous cellular therapies utilizing the patient's own microfat or concentrated bone marrow.
- Maximizing Stem Cell Yield: Dr. Ohlson highlights technical advancements in harvesting, noting that extracting bone marrow from the pelvis yields twice as many stem cells as other areas. Surprisingly, using smaller syringes (e.g., 10cc instead of 60cc) creates better pressure, pulling up to three times more stem cells.
- Success Story: He shares a case of a highly active 63-year-old surfer and yogi with severe shoulder arthritis. After receiving pelvic bone marrow cellular therapy, she reported 70% pain relief within six weeks.
4. Benefits Over Traditional Cortisone
- Sustainable Relief vs. Temporary Fixes: Cortisone shots quickly suppress inflammation but can degrade cartilage over time and delay joint replacements due to infection risks.
- Slowing Arthritis: Regenerative therapies take 4 to 12 weeks to show maximum results, but they can provide 2 to 5 years of relief and contain proteins (like alpha-2-macroglobulin) that may actually slow down the progression of arthritis. They also pose zero risk to future surgeries.
Technology Showcase
Dr. Ohlson demonstrates the tools they use right in their office:
- The Plus System (by Selphyl Biosciences): A self-contained, closed, and disposable system that centrifuges and filters a patient's blood or bone marrow. It allows them to isolate the "buffy coat" and concentrate beneficial proteins into a customized solution.
- Ultrasound Guidance: An iPad-compatible, highly compact ultrasound device is used to ensure extreme accuracy during joint injections.