Dr. Laith Jazrawi featured in U.S. News and World Report’s Best Hospitals Issue

Dr. Jazrawi, Chief of Sports Medicine at NYU Langone Orthopedics, was recently interviewed by U.S. News and World Report for an article on cell therapies in sports medicine. The full article, “Stem Cells May Hold the Fix,” was printed in the latest 'Best Hospitals' issue of U.S. News and World Report.

“Stem cells from a patient's bone marrow or belly fat are injected into an injured joint in an outpatient procedure that lasts about 45 minutes. "It's not a panacea, but it offers another opportunity to delay a joint replacement," says Laith Jazrawi, chief of the division of sports medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center. Delay is good "because there's a longevity issue with joint replacement."

"I didn't want that type of surgery," says Mike Barnet, 62, an avid cyclist and squash player from Margate, New Jersey, who'd been advised to have both knees replaced for bone-on-bone arthritis and a torn meniscus in his right one. He contacted Jazrawi, and a few weeks after an injection into his right knee of stem cells from his pelvic bone, the knee was free of pain and swelling. That was two and a half years ago. "I might need a knee replacement down the road," says Barnet, "but I'm hoping that this will be a long-term fix."

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