ACP Therapy Vienna
Body’s own healing factors to support natural self-healing of tissues? With PRP or autologous conditioned plasma (ACP), there is a high-quality autologous blood treatment (ACP autologous blood therapy) and a modern procedure for the curative treatment of sports injuries, wear-related joint complaints, tendon injuries and chronic diseases such as osteoarthritis or tendovaginitis.
What does ACP mean?
ACP as abbreviation stands for Autologous Conditioned Plasma. In medical parlance, “autologous” refers to “belonging to the body and biological” or “belonging to the same individual”. “Conditioned” stands for prepared and the P for “plasma,” the liquid component of blood that makes up about 55% of our blood.
This is platelet-rich plasma obtained from autologous blood by centrifugation. The term PRP (platelet rich plasma) is also frequently used and one often reads about Autologous plasma or autologous blood therapy, in which only one component of the blood, the plasma, is used.
What is ACP therapy?
ACP autologous blood therapy is a high-quality autologous blood therapy in which blood is drawn from the patient, the highly effective blood plasma is extracted in a centrifuge and then directly injected. As a safe procedure, ACP therapy (autologous blood therapy) uses the body’s own regenerative powers. The procedure, which has no side effects, uses the growth factors that are filtered out by centrifugation and thus accelerates the healing process. The autologously conditioned blood serum is specially prepared and the autologous blood can thus be used for pain therapy and for the therapy of various orthopedic clinical pictures.
How does the active ingredient work?
Centrifugation separates autologous blood serum from the rest of the blood. The main components of ACP autologous blood therapy are platelets ( thrombocytes ), as well as numerous substances produced naturally in the body, so-called growth factors, but also stem cells, which play an essential role in healing. These growth factors are of great importance. Leukocytes (white blood cells), which can impede the healing process under certain circumstances, are only present in low concentrations. Platelet-rich blood serum is produced during separation. This endogenous, biological active ingredient without the addition of artificial substances makes the therapy particularly safe and tolerable. The platelets in the patient’s own blood release growth factors directly at the site of the injury, which can then start the reconstruction of the injured tissue and inhibit painful inflammation. In addition, cell regeneration in the tissue is stimulated, thus accelerating and supporting the body’s own healing process. Platelets, which are present in high numbers in blood serum, play an essential role in tissue growth and regeneration. It is they that release growth factors in the event of injury and thus trigger and regulate repair processes.
How does the ACP autologous blood therapy work?
For patients this therapy means only a small expenditure. This is how ACP therapy works: At the beginning, the indication is made by means of clinical and, if necessary, radiological diagnostics. The procedure is simple, safe and the treatment itself does not take long. At the beginning of each therapy session, about 15 ml of blood is taken from the arm vein. The ACP double sprayer is already used and utilized for this purpose.
The autologous blood is then processed in a special centrifuge for five minutes to separate the platelet-rich blood serum. The body’s own active substances in concentrated form settle and, thanks to the special syringe system of the double syringe, the active components of the blood can be removed sterilely and the remaining part discarded. The ACP syringe is ready for injection and can be injected immediately into the affected area or joint.
The whole procedure takes 15 to 30 minutes and after the curative treatment the patient can immediately resume his/her daily activities. According to studies, ideally three to five sessions at intervals of about a week should be take place. In the case of acute injuries, the intervals between therapy appointments can also be shortened.
What are the applications of the therapy in orthopedics and what complaints can it treat?
ACP therapy can be used for the curative treatment of joint wear and tear, cartilage wear and tear, osteoarthritis, as well as degenerative tendon injuries and acute sports injuries. In mild to moderate osteoarthritis, the treatment promotes cell regeneration. However, when cartilage wear is clearly advanced and there is further wear in the joint, there is often so little tissue material that it can no longer be stimulated to grow. In this case, alternative treatment options should be considered in consultation with the treating orthopedist.
ACP autologous blood therapy relieves pain and improves mobility in osteoarthritis of the knee, hip, shoulder, ankle, as well as the spine and other joints.
In addition, it is used for the curative treatment of degenerative diseases, such as tendon and joint inflammations and helps with chronic tendon irritations or overloads, but also with chronic Achilles tendon pain, such as heel spur, tennis elbow or runner’s knee. Also in the therapy of muscle injuries, ACP therapy can improve and accelerate healing.
Even postoperatively, the healing success can be positively influenced by the application of ACP.
What are the advantages of ACP autologous blood therapy?
Pain from osteoarthritis or sports injuries should be quickly clarified and alleviated. The ACP autologous blood therapy method is characterized by many advantages. One advantage is the good and fast effectiveness, which is often noticeable already a week after the first session and fully unfolds a few days after the last session. Unlike treatments with cortisone, ACP autologous blood therapy has no known intolerances and the application is 100% biological. It therefore shows no undesirable side effects or complications and is thus particularly well tolerated by the body. In addition, the treatment can be carried out on an outpatient basis and is therefore uncomplicated; the therapy itself does not take long and the patients can go home directly afterwards. The ACP autologous blood therapy is sterile and infection-protected due to the special preparation procedure and a potential risk of infection is thus virtually eliminated.
ACP is free of side effects, free of cortisone due to the body’s own active ingredients, can be performed on an outpatient basis, is particularly sterile and infection-proof due to the special preparation process, uncomplicated and quick to perform, natural and 100% tolerable.
ACP therapy - the treatment for each and everyone:
ACP therapy helps the high-performance athlete, as well as the patient who is severely limited in movement. Autologous conditioned plasma can be used in the treatment of acute sports injuries or degenerative tendon injuries, as well as in the treatment of conditions caused by mild to moderate joint wear and cartilage degeneration. The therapy can help to get fit faster with all these types of complaints, furthermore reduces pain and accelerates the healing process. The healing time can be shortened by 30 to 50 percent with ACP therapy and the quality of healing is increased.
The indication for a possible therapy should be given by your treating orthopedist in order to then decide individually whether ACP therapy can provide a possible benefit and how many treatments or which interval to the therapy is most suitable. You can visit me in my office in the 8th district of Vienna.
As a specialist in Vienna, I am always available to answer questions related to cartilage damage, muscles, tendons, joints, ligament injuries, tendon sheath irritation, osteoarthritis.