Choice Blog

Sonny Cohen: First UK patient to have Lipogems Therapy

"The effect was instantaneous and six months on I'm still pain-free"

As the primary carer for his wide Marsha, who has muscular dystrophy, 77 year old Sonny Cohen needs to be as mobile as he possibly can. He has to help her get in and out of the bath every day and then to dress.

So it was a huge blow to the couple, who live in Victoria, south-west London, when Sonny, a chartered accountant, began having pain in his groin.

He says: "My GP told me I had simply pulled a muscle. I have since learnt that this is one of the first signs of an arthritic hip. When the pain persisted and was disturbing my sleep, I went to see a rheumatologist. After looking at an MRI scan of my right hip, he told me I had osteoarthritis and needed hip replacement surgery.

"But I have kidney problems and a hip operation would have meant I would have had to start having kidney dialysis. That simply wasn't an option in the circumstances."

In addition to caring for Marsha, 73, Sonny works two days a week in Ruislip for a firm on chartered accountants.

Fortunately he was eventually to discover there was another way to deal with his problem hip, but he only learnt this after first trapping his right arm in a taxi door at the start of the year.

"My arm ballooned to three times its normal size so I went to the Princess Grace Hospital in London. there, an orthopaedic surgeon told me I had ruptured my shoulder and that it would heal eventually.

"During our conversation he mentioned the Professor Wilson had assembled a team of experts at the Regenerative Clinic in Harley Street who were beginning to use adipose precursor stem cells to treat painful joints. He suggested the new treatment might help to ease the pain in both my hip and shoulder." Keen to find an alternative to joint replacement surgery, Sonny made an appointment to see Prof Wilson, and in April last year became the first patient in the UK to undergo Lipogems Therapy.

Sonny says: "The crucial element is that it is a non-invasive procedure that does not involve surgery. It meant that I did not have to go on to kidney dialysis. which would have had such a negative impact on my life.

"Having the treatment was a surreal experience. I had no sedation so I can remember everything about it because of my kidney problems they monitored everything carefully the whole time. 

"I did not feel a thing when they began extracting the fatty tissue out of wither side of my stomach, but there was a lot of bruising afterwards. When the solution had been filtrated. they injected my fat cells into my right hip. Then at my request they injected some into my right shoulder as well. Because they had put local anaesthetic into the area first, I didn't have any pain during the injections.

"the whole procedure tool about 90 minutes. I went to the clinic at 9am and was home by 4.30pm. The treatment's effect was instantaneous and six months I am still pain-free.

"I feel very lucky that I was told about this innovative treatment and that I could afford it. At £6000 it is an expensive form of pain relief but if it gives me a couple of years free of pain it will have been worth every penny.

"It means I can carry on looking after my wife and that we're able to continue having a life and can go out to the theatre and restaurants. If, like me, you have something wrong with you that means you can't undergo traditional orthopaedic surgery, this treatment provides you with an alternative."

What do you think of this therapy? Do you have something to say? 

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