Assessment of the Outcomes of the Intra-articular Abdominal Adipose- Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy in Knee Osteoarthritis Patients.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Intra-articular abdominal adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cell (AD-MSC) therapy in patients diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis and to compare its effectiveness in patients with grade 2 and grade 3 osteoarthritis.

MATERIAL AND METHOD: The study group comprised 48 patients over the age of 18 that were diagnosed with Grade II or Grade III (Kellgren-Lawrence) primary knee osteoarthritis. Two-way comparative knee radiography was performed for all patients before the procedure. Intra-articular abdominal adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cell (AD-MSC) therapy was applied to all patients. The patients were evaluated with the VAS and WOMAC index before the treatment and 3 months and 6 months after the treatment.

RESULTS

A statistically significant decrease was found in the six-month follow-up WOMAC and VAS scores compared to the pre-treatment scores regardless of the grade of their osteoarthritis (p <0.001).

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, it was observed that the intra-articular injection of the AD-MSCs provided satisfactory functional recovery and pain relief for patients with knee osteoarthritis at six-month follow-up. No procedure-related adverse events were observed during the follow-up period.