Use of bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of osteoarthritis: A retrospective long-term follow-up study

Cesare Mariani; Ezio Meneghetti; Doriano Zambon; Nicholas Elena; Alberto Agueci; Claudio Melchior

doi:10.1016/j.jcot.2022.102084

Use of bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of osteoarthritis: A retrospective long-term follow-up study

J Clin Orthop Trauma. 2022 Dec 5:36:102084. doi: 10.1016/j.jcot.2022.102084. eCollection 2023 Jan.

Authors

Cesare Mariani¹, Ezio Meneghetti¹, Doriano Zambon¹, Nicholas Elena², Alberto Agueci¹, Claudio Melchior¹

Affiliations

¹ U.O.C. of Orthopedics and Trauma Surgery - PP.OO, Conegliano e Vittorio Veneto, AULSS 2 Marca Trevigiana, Italy.
² Department of Orthopedics and Trauma Surgery, University of Verona, Italy.

Abstract

Background: Available studies suggest that bone marrow concentrate, highly enriched in mesenchymal stem cells, is a potentially encouraging treatment for knee osteoarthritis. The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the clinical outcome in patients affected by this condition after treatment with autologous bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC).

Methods: 55 patients who had undergone a single intra-articular injection of BMAC were administered two questionnaires to clinically evaluate their condition based on patient-reported outcome measures before treatment and at follow-up.

Results: Analysis of the data collected indicates that patients experienced improvements in Tegner, VAS and WOMAC scores and that all outcomes at the follow-up improved in a statistically significant manner compared to outcomes at baseline.

Conclusions: The changes observed in the different scores examined suggest that a single BMAC injection seems to be a beneficial and safe treatment for knee osteoarthritis.

Keywords: BMAC; Bone marrow concentrate; Intra-articular injection; Knee osteoarthritis; Mesenchymal stem cells.