Authors: Jack Coleman, M.D, Melissa Rubio, Ph.D, APRN, FNP.
This is a retrospective case series of 568 patients suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) treated with autologous cells and platelet rich plasma (PRP) during 2015. Our objectives were to determine any benefits of treatment as well as any risks to the patient. Quality of Life (QoL) was measured using the Clinical COPD Questionnaire (CCQ). There was a statistically significant improvement in the average self-reported improvement greater than 0.4, in all of our protocols. The proportion of patients experiencing significant improvement in QoL at the 6-month follow-up ranges from 68.2 to 80.0%, depending on the treatment protocol. This study shows that autologous cell therapy with PRP positively affected the QoL of 73% of patients treated using our protocols. Pulmonary function was also measured but no significant changes were observed in the Forced Expiratory Volume at 1 second (FEV1) or the FEV1 to Forced Vital Capacity (FVC) ratio: (FEV1/FVC) values from baseline. Neither age nor gender correlated with the QoL response. There were no complications related to the therapy noted in any patient. We postulate that the natural history of the disease in responding patients was positively changed during
the duration of therapy and with little, if any, risk to the patient.