Installment 86 - Ask The Doctor/Dr. Jack Coleman/Lung Institute/February 2016

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Jeannine

Pioneer Founding member
About Jack Coleman, Jr, MD

Jack Coleman, Jr., MD, is the Medical Director of the Lung Institute facility in Nashville, TN. He earned his medical degree from the University of Cincinnati and completed his internship and general surgery residency at the same institution. Moving to Pennsylvania, Dr. Coleman became otolaryngology resident at the University of Pittsburgh Eye and Ear Hospital. He also served as a Lieutenant Commander and Commander in the United States Naval Reserve.
In addition to being a diplomate of the National Board of Medical Examiners, Dr. Coleman is Board Certified in Otolaryngology and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery. He is also a Fellow with the American College of Surgeons and holds membership in the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery,Association of Military Surgeons of the United States and the Pan-American Society of Otolaryngology.Along with his distinguished medical career, Dr. Coleman is a published author for several medical books and is referenced in numerous medical journals.

https://lunginstitute.com/?lp=print-stem-cell-pioneers
1-800-729-3065
Treatment Facilities:
Tampa | Nashville | Scottsdale | Pittsburgh

International Headquarters:
201 E. Kennedy Blvd. Suite 700
Tampa, FL 33602

Questions & Answers

1) After initially consulting with The Lung Institute, what are the next steps to getting my doctor involved in evaluating the recommended treatment?
First, upon initial contact, you still speak with a patient coordinator, who will review the treatment and go over any questions that you might have. Following the initial conversation, we have a physician guide containing important information for you to share with your doctor. One of our physicians would also be happy to speak with your doctor directly if they have any specific questions.

2) What pretreatment steps are recommended for harvesting stem cells? What after treatment steps are necessary to determine if the treatment worked?
The most important first step is to make sure that you understand your treatment options. We will work closely with you to help guide you through this process. If it is determined that getting treatment is the best option for you, we will guide you through how to obtain the necessary test results prior to treatment. We also recommend that you work closely with your pulmonologist before and after the treatment, and take a follow up pulmonary function test with your pulmonologist six months after treatment to see if any progress has been made in pulmonary function. It is also very important to stay in touch with us after treatment so we can see how you’re feeling and conduct a quality of life survey, which will help determine the effectiveness of treatment.

3) What determines the type of treatment that is best suited for a patient? In other words, how do you determine if venous or bone marrow is best for a patient? Is there certain criteria such as severity of disease, age, cost or regulatory issues that play into that decision?
Each person’s circumstances are unique, and our providers review each indivudual’s situation to identify which treatment a patient may qualify for, and there are several factors that help determine which option is best. For example, a patient who uses prescription blood thinners would only qualify for certain treatment, and we are careful in helping a patient choose what will work best in his or her situation. That being said, we have found that bone marrow provides the best mix of stem cells and signaling factors for treating lung disease. Our team of patient coordinators help guide patients through this qualification process, and our medical staff reviews all medical records prior to treatment.

4) I had lung reduction surgery in 1999 on one lung, and in 2011 on the other. I also take 15 mg of prednisone daily. I am seriously considering stem cell treatment at your Pittsburgh location. Would the surgery play any part in considering me as a patient? Would I need to be off prednisone? If so, for how long in advance?
These surgeries would not interfere with the ability to have treatment. Many of our patients have had similar surgeries in the past and are on various steroids and medications. We review all medical records for each individual prior to advising on candidacy or recommending any changes to medications. I would recommend reaching out to a patient coordinator at (800) 382-8095 to facilitate this review of your medical records.

5) How long does the treatment take and are there additional costs for travel, hotel, aftercare, etc.? What drugs would be involved, if any, for successful maintenance of my treatment following the initial effort?
The treatment is a three-day, minimally invasive outpatient procedure. Travel to and from the airport and hotel expenses are included in the cost of treatment. We recommend that you continue to work with your pulmonologist regarding any medications that you’re currently on, and our medical staff will work with you individually regarding follow up care.

6) Which lung diseases are the most responsive to stem cell treatment? Do the stem cells also help the heart? What about reducing or stopping the progress of pulmonary hypertension?
The diseases we are able to treat include: chronic obstructive lung disease (COPD), emphysema, bronchiectasis, some forms of interstitial lung disease and pulmonary fibrosis, among others. We most commonly see patients with COPD because of the prevalence of the disease. Unfortunately we do not treat pulmonary hypertension at this time.
A decline in lung function directly affects your heart because when you’re having trouble breathing, your lungs have to work harder. This puts more pressure on your heart. While stem cell therapy at our clinic is not a treatment for heart disease, it has helped many patients breathe more easily, which may provide some relief for the heart.

7) How often will the treatment have to be repeated to maintain success?
This varies from person to person. Some patients may never need to come back for a repeat treatment, some come in if they notice a decrease in lung function after improvement, some come in before there is any evidence of decreasing lung function as a preventive measure, while others may elect to come back for more treatments in attempt to improve their condition even further. Ultimately, it is up to the patient to decide if they elect to have a follow up, or booster treatment. Currently around 10-15% of our patients opt for the booster treatment.

8) I use DMSO from time to time for aches and pains. Would this have any effect on my treatment? What about other OTC or pharmaceutical drugs?
DMSO has not been found to affect treatment. Some medications can, such as cytotoxic drugs used in cancer chemotherapy. Most medications are not contraindicated for stem cell therapy. That being said, we always review a full list of medications prior to treatment and will advise on which, if any, need to be discontinued prior to treatment.

9) Has anyone died or been seriously injured from stem cell treatment at any of your clinics? It seems like there is a constant media barrage telling sick people that for profit clinics are maiming and injuring scores of patients. On a scale of 1-10, how much risk is involved in the treatments you give?
Because we are using the patient’s own cells, the health risk involved with stem cell therapy is extremely small. It harnesses your body’s natural healing capacity and does not have the negative side effects that come with using cells from another person (donor cells), medications or surgery.In a recent study, we found that 82% of our patients saw an improvement in their quality of life.
We have never had anyone injured as a result of stem cell therapy at the Lung Institute, and have treated over 1,800 patients as of February 2016.

10) What type of training did you as a doctor have to have to start processing and administering stem cell therapies? Inflammation is so prevalent for lung disease. From everything I've read, the stem cells can help reduce the inflammation greatly, much better than drugs with less adverse effects. Is there anything on the horizon to actually regenerate lung tissue that you might be aware of to take us to another step toward a cure?
This is not a hard question to answer but it is a long answer. At this point the field of regenerative medicine, which includes stem cell study and treatment, is in its infancy. Internships, residencies and fellowships for physicians do not exist yet, although they do for PhD and post doctoral candidates. So if a physician wants to study and learn in this field, they have to seek out information and people willing to train them on their own. Sometimes this means seeing a specific application in a particular specialty and expanding one’s knowledge from there, or it may mean slowing down one’s clinical practice in order to spend more time in this field. To some that may seem like it would be frustrating, but this field is changing so rapidly, the discoveries from laboratories around the world so fascinating, and is offering so many new and effective avenues of treatment that the excitement of being part of it more than makes up for any small inconvenience.
In my experience with sleep medicine, which is one of the newer specialties, we saw over the course of almost 50 years the introduction of a new concept – sleep disorders – that a handful of pioneers took seriously, studied, expanded upon, shared information with others, who in turn became more interested in the field. Sleep medicine came to cross many specialty lines and attracted more practitioners to it until a national organization started to share information at national and then international meetings, several medical journals started being published, and residencies and fellowships began to spring up across the country and around the world. Finally, the critical mass was there and sleep medicine was recognized as a specialty in its own right, with board exams and board certification as well as obtaining recognition by the ABMS (American Board of Medical Specialties).
I think regenerative medicine will take the same course, cross all specialty lines and do it all much more quickly.
As to the question of actually regenerating lung tissue, the answer is yes, that problem is currently being worked on by several very intelligent and dedicated people in labs around the U.S. and world. But it won’t be easy, as the lung is a very complex organ, and such regeneration capability is years away.
This is really an exciting time for the field; stem cell basic science research is really just hitting its stride. We have the ability to create, culture and store the cells we need to work with, more financial support is coming from governments and industry and countries are recognizing the inefficiency of regulatory boards from the last century, and are working toward streamlining to bring newer technologies forward faster to clinicians and patients. Furthermore, bioengineering is making rapid progress in creating biocompatible scaffolds to grow organs and tissues, and nanotechnology is evolving to the point that it will soon be integrated with internentional radiology and robotic surgery to deliver therapy to any part of the body in a minimally invasive manner. These things are happening now, and I can’t wait to see what we will be able to do in the future as a result.
 
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