How to evaluate a clinic abroad

Start from the right premise

You are not trying to work out whether cell therapy works in general — that is a question for the literature, and we cover it here. You are trying to work out whether this specific provider will handle your case competently and tell you the truth.

Those are different questions, and the second one is answerable. A clinic reveals a great deal in how it responds to being asked.

1. Who decides you are a candidate, and when

Ask: who reviews my records, what are their credentials, and does that happen before or after I pay a deposit?

This is the single most informative question. If candidacy is confirmed by someone in sales, on a first phone call, before anyone has seen an image — you have learned what you need to know. Published trials excluded patients for specific documented reasons, including prior knee replacement on the joint in question. Someone has to actually check.

Good sign: a physician's name, a licence number you can verify, and a written assessment that includes reasoning.

2. What exactly is being used

Ask: what cell source and preparation, at what dose, and where does the material come from?

This is not a technicality. Pooled analyses have found that outcomes differ by cell source and preparation, and the field's open arguments sit precisely here. A clinic that cannot or will not answer specifically is asking you to trust a variable that the researchers themselves consider decisive.

Good sign: a specific answer, plus documentation offered without being pushed for — donor screening, certificate of analysis, cold-chain records for the lot used in your case.

3. Where the procedure actually happens

Ask: what kind of facility, is it licensed, is the procedure image-guided, and what happens if there is a complication at 9 p.m.?

In the controlled literature, most reported adverse events are transient and local, and no serious events have been attributed to the therapy itself. Much of the residual risk is procedural: sterile technique, correct placement, correct handling of the material, and what is available in the hours afterwards.

Good sign: a named, licensed facility, and a concrete answer about after-hours care rather than reassurance.

4. What they promise

Watch for: success rates, guarantees, cure language, before-and-after images, and testimonials about clinical outcomes.

The evidence base does not support outcome guarantees for these therapies, so a clinic offering one is either not reading the literature or not telling you about it. Neither is reassuring. This is also why regulated advertising platforms restrict these claims.

Good sign: a clinic that volunteers the limitations, tells you the certainty of the evidence is low, and describes a realistic magnitude of benefit rather than a best case.

5. Whether they will tell you no

Ask directly: what proportion of enquiries are told they are not candidates, and what would disqualify me?

A provider that accepts everyone is not assessing anyone. This question is uncomfortable to ask and very revealing to hear answered.

6. What happens after you fly home

Ask: what follow-up is scheduled, with whom, and at what intervals?

There is a specific reason this matters beyond customer service. Research on these treatments has found that a substantial share of reported improvement is attributable to contextual effects — the care, attention and structure surrounding a procedure, not only the procedure. If that is true, then follow-up, rehabilitation and someone answering in month three are not extras. They are part of what produces the result.

Good sign: scheduled contact at defined intervals, a named person, and a plan for what happens if you are not improving.

7. Money, and when it changes hands

Ask: what is the total, what is included, what is not, and what is the policy if the physician decides I am not a candidate?

Watch for: pressure, expiring discounts, and any request for a substantial payment before a physician has reviewed your file.

8. Regulation, in the country where it happens

Ask: under what authority does this facility operate, and can I see the documentation?

“Not FDA-approved” describes the United States. It does not describe the regulatory status of a facility in another country. In México, cellular therapy is regulated by COFEPRIS, which licenses the establishment and the procedures performed in it. That is a different framework from FDA approval of a product, and neither substitutes for the other — but the difference is worth understanding rather than glossing.

Good sign: a clinic that explains the distinction accurately and offers the documents rather than waving the question away.

A short version

If you remember nothing else: a good clinic is one that is comfortable being asked hard questions and gives specific answers, including inconvenient ones. Vagueness, urgency and guarantees are the three signals worth walking away from, wherever in the world you are standing.

See how Medgenik answers these →