Why is Canada so behind in articular cartilage repair?

[LAS]

Here in the US Boston hospitals such as Brigham and Women's are doing stem cell injections in one or two injections sometime three.   I was reading about it on the internet.  They have had some good results for certain candidates.   I also read that Insurance does not pay for this procedure and it is about  3-$5000.00 per injection.  They use your own stem cells, centrifuge it down and inject them.   If you can afford it it's worth looking into.   LAS

[KartBoy]

Update - I thought they has performed a MACI on my right knee but it was actually an ACI, according to the surgeon who told me this rather shocking fact it was up to individual surgeons preference as clinical outcomes, at least at Stanmore were not significantly different. The other thing to consider if more than one treatment option is available is which one is likely to work best for you, when you need it. Its fine to take part in an experimental trial but I find myself needing a knee replacement very soon but am leaning in the direction of going with a surgeon I know and trust rather than considering a potentially better treatment which is as yet unproven and the surgeon currently a total stranger.

[LJ88]

Here in the US Boston hospitals such as Brigham and Women's are doing stem cell injections in one or two injections sometime three.   I was reading about it on the internet.  They have had some good results for certain candidates.   I also read that Insurance does not pay for this procedure and it is about  3-$5000.00 per injection.  They use your own stem cells, centrifuge it down and inject them.   If you can afford it it's worth looking into.   LAS

Thank you LAS for the suggestion, through my research I did stumble upon B&W and http://www.hss.edu/. B&W sadly only does knees, as for HSS I left a message but no reply. I went back to my sport's med specialist and he told me that if I wanted to get this done out of the country I should go to Sweden because they are the leaders in this field and it will cost me around $50,000 because the hip is MUCH harder to work on (I am not sure if that includes work on my Pinch/CAM impingement)

The slight hope that I have is that it turns out one of the doctor's my specialist works with is starting his second clinical trial of knee cartilage repair which means that hip cartilage repair is hopefully only a few years away. I will most likely do some acid injections ($400 every 6 months) to thicken up my joint fluid and hope that buys me enough time for the good ol'Canadian health system to pay for my hip surgery lol I wish the best to you all : )