A small Broomfield clinic is quietly trailblazing a revolutionary stem cell treatment for orthopedic patients.

Adult stem cell treatment comes without the controversy of embryonic stem cell treatment because it uses a patient’s own harvested and multiplied stem cells to treat knee injuries and broken bones.

Dr. Christopher Centeno, who cofounded the Broomfield-based Centeno-Schultz Regenexx Clinic, said the procedure may one day replace the need for orthopedic surgery.

“Adult stem cells are ultimately going to be a huge mainstay of treatment for a lot of different problems,” said Dr. Centeno. “The field is exploding.”

The treatment is still relatively new, can cost thousands of dollars and is not currently covered by any health insurance providers.

During the procedure, a patient’s stem cells are removed, using a needle. They are taken to a lab and multiplied and later, reinjected into the affected area.

For some patients, doctors say the treatment quickly starts rebuilding damaged tissues.

One of those patients is Hal Kaye.

“I got on my treadmill and did my first mile where a year before that, 100 yards was a job,” said Kaye, an accountant and avid sportsman who loves golfing and once worked as a high school and college basketball referee before the arch in his foot collapsed 15 years ago.

Kaye said four ankle surgeries left him nearly crippled. Dr. Centeno said the fourth surgery drove a screw through an important artery in Kaye’s ankle, causing the bone to die off and collapse and the cartilage on top of the bone to wear away.

“When I first saw Hal's X-ray, it looked like someone had taken a bunch of screws from the hardware store and thrown them at the picture,” said Centeno.

“My quality of life deteriorated drastically,” Kaye said. “Golf was done in a cart with a handicap flag on the cart with a cane hanging from my golf bag.”

On the verge of a fifth surgery, which would have involved an ankle fusion, Kaye went to an informational session about the Regenexx Clinic’s adult stem cell treatment.

Doctors deemed Kaye a good candidate for the stem cell treatment. Kaye said two months after the first injection, he stopped limping and using a cane. Six months and two injections later, Kaye is running daily on his treadmill.

For now, the Regnexx treatment is strictly used on some orthopedic patients, from osteoarthritis sufferers, to knee replacement candidates. Dr. Centeno said soon, adult stem cell treatment could replace orthopedic surgery altogether.

Centeno said he believes if the success of the treatment continues, health insurance coverage is not far off.