VIA LIVESTREAM (details on registration page)
'Stem Cell Therapy and Platelet-Rich Plasma for Osteoarthritis: Hope or Hype?'
About the lecture:
Conservative estimates indicate that more than 54 million adults and almost 300,000 children have arthritis or another type of rheumatic disease. People of all ages, genders and races can and do have arthritis, making it the leading cause of disability in the United States. There are more than 100 different types of arthritis and related conditions. Often referred to as 'wear and tear' arthritis, osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis.
Join us as UArizona Arthritis Center Director Dr. Kent Kwoh discusses the use of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and stem cell therapy in the management of osteoarthritis. After a brief overview of current management strategies, he will discuss the mechanisms by which PRP and stem cell therapy are thought to work and the variability of their preparation.
From his perspective as a board-certified rheumatologist who helped develop the recommended management guidelines for hip, hand and knee osteoarthritis, he will outline evidence supporting the current use of these two regenerative therapies and offer his views on their place in the future.
About Dr. Kwoh
Dr. Kwoh is a Professor of Medicine and Medical Imaging in the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson, Chief of the Division of Rheumatology and holds the Charles A.L. and Suzanne M. Stephens Endowed Chair in Rheumatology. He serves as Director of the University of Arizona Arthritis Center, a Center of Excellence in the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson.
After earning his bachelor's degree in honors biology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1975, he went on to earn his Medical Doctorate from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1979. He completed his Internal Medicine residency at the University of Illinois Hospitals in 1982 and a fellowship in Rheumatology at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in 1984. Before coming to the University of Arizona, Dr. Kwoh was the Director of Clinical Research at the University of Pittsburgh Arthritis Institute as well as a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology from 2000 until 2013. Simultaneously, he held a joint appointment in the Department of Epidemiology and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute while working as a staff physician. He also served in addition to being Rheumatology Section Chief in the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare Systems.
His major research interests are in outcome assessment and the examination of risk factors for the development and progression of a broad spectrum of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases. His current work focuses on the identification of biomarkers - most notably MRI imaging biomarkers for the development and/or progression of knee osteoarthritis and the characterization of knee pain patterns in osteoarthritis. He also has a major interest in the reduction and ultimately the elimination of disparities in the management of arthritis and musculoskeletal diseases.