Trial reportKnee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA2018
Intra-articular injections of expanded mesenchymal stem cells with and without addition of platelet-rich plasma are safe and effective for knee osteoarthritis.
Trial report in Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 56 papers, 12 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
56 citing papers in PubMed, 12 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 110 citations in OpenAlex.
- Efficacy based on dose-response and safety of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Stem cell research & therapy · 2025Pooled it
- Stem cell injections for osteoarthritis of the knee.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of high tibial osteotomy combined with platelet-rich plasma for treating knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the Chinese population.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2024Pooled it
- A systematic review, umbrella review, and quality assessment on clinical translation of stem cell therapy for knee osteoarthritis: Are we there yet?Stem cell research & therapy · 2023Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of platelet-rich plasma injections for the treatment of osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Pooled it
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- Efficacy and safety of radiofrequency ablation for treatment of knee osteoarthritis: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.The Journal of international medical research · 2021Pooled it
- The effects of platelet-rich plasma injection in knee and hip osteoarthritis: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Clinical rheumatology · 2021Pooled it
- Injectable Systems for Intra-Articular Delivery of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells for Cartilage Treatment: A Systematic Review of Preclinical and Clinical Evidence.International journal of molecular sciences · 2018Pooled it
- Mesenchymal stem cells and platelet rich plasma therapy for knee osteoarthritis: an umbrella review of systematic reviews with meta-analysis.Annals of Saudi medicinePooled it
- Phase II multicenter randomized controlled clinical trial on the efficacy of intra-articular injection of autologous bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells with platelet rich plasma for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis.Journal of translational medicine · 2020Trial
- Intra-articular injection of culture-expanded mesenchymal stem cells with or without addition of platelet-rich plasma is effective in decreasing pain and symptoms in knee osteoarthritis: a controlled, double-blind clinical trial.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2020Trial
- Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Treatment in Patients with Osteoarthritis Results in Overall Improvement in Pain and Symptoms and Reduces Synovial Inflammation.Stem cells translational medicine · 2019Trial
- A single intra-articular stromal vascular fraction with platelet-rich plasma injection yields superior clinical outcomes than a hyaluronic acid injection in patients with knee osteoarthritis: A prospective comparative study.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2026Article
- Superior clinical outcomes with combined intra-articular platelet-rich plasma and hyaluronic acid compared with hyaluronic acid alone in knee osteoarthritis: A prospective comparative study.Journal of experimental orthopaedics · 2026Article
- Review
- Therapeutic potential of SOX family transcription factors in osteoarthritis.Annals of medicine · 2025Review
- The Impact of Lower Extremity Mechanical Axis Alignment on the Success of Platelet-Rich Plasma Injections in Knee Osteoarthritis Patients.Orthopaedic surgery · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeTo compare the effectiveness and safety of intra-articular injections of autologous expanded mesenchymal stromal stem cells alone (MSCs), or in combination with platelet-rich plasma (MSCs + PRP), in patients with knee osteoarthritis.
methodsEighteen patients (57.6 ± 9.6 years) with radiographic symptomatic knee osteoarthritis (Dejour grades II-IV) were randomized to receive intra-articular injections of MSCs (n = 9) or MSCs + PRP (n = 9). Injections were performed 2-3 weeks after bone marrow aspiration (± 80-100 ml) which was obtained from both posterior iliac crests.
resultsThe Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) improved significantly throughout the 12 months for both groups (p < 0.05). No statistically significant differences between groups were found in KOOS subscales and global score improvements at 12-month end-point (n.s.). The MSCs group showed significant improvements in the pain, function and daily living activities, and sports and recreational activities subscales (p < 0.05). Similarly, the MSCs + PRP group showed significant improvements in the pain, function and daily living activities and quality of life subscales (p < 0.05). The average number of fibroblast colony forming units (CFU-F) was 56.8 + 21.9 for MSCs group and 50.7 ± 21.7 for MSCs + PRP group. Minimal adverse effects were seen in both groups (10 adverse events, in 5 patients).
conclusionsIntra-articular injections of expanded MSCs alone or in combination with PRP are safe and have a beneficial effect on symptoms in patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis. Adding PRP to the MSCs injections did not provide additional benefit. These results are encouraging and support the recommendation of this minimally invasive procedure in patients with knee osteoarthritis, without requiring hospitalization. The CFU-F results may be used as reference for future research. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Prospective cohort study, Level II.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.