Diego, a top-level professional soccer play originally from Uruguay, had a chronic knee injury that was limiting his professional career. He had a knee injury when 18 and had arthroscopic surgery with meniscectomy. Later in his career (2014), his treating physicians told him he would have to retire and would at some point need a knee replacement to help his pain. This is when he met Christina Bertolotto, MD and Steve Sampson, DO. As a last option to save his career, he tried a form of stem cell treatment using cells from his bone marrow (BMAC) combined with platelet rich plasma (PRP) injected into his knee at the OrthoHealing Center in Los Angeles. Since his treatment and physical therapy program, he has been able to continue playing professional soccer, now up to 3 years including more than 100 games.

Diego was recently brought to the Orthobiologic Institute International regenerative medicine conference, held in Las Vegas this past weekend, by Dr Christina Bertollo to share his story.