ReviewOrthopaedic journal of sports medicine2020
Efficacy of Stem Cell Therapy for Tendon Disorders: A Systematic Review.
Review in Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
28 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 58 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic review and meta-analysis of adult multipotent stromal/stem cell treatment for equine tendinopathy and desmopathy.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2026Pooled it
- Mesenchymal stem cells injections in traumatology and orthopaedics: common practice or still a promising area with many uncertainties?BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2025Pooled it
- Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Treatment of Tendon and Ligament Injuries-clinical Evidence.Medical archives (Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina) · 2020Pooled it
- Tendon healing in the era of regenerative medicine: literature review.Annals of translational medicine · 2026Review
- Tendon, Ligament, and Muscle Injury, Osteotendinous, Myotendinous, and Muscle-to-Bone Junction Therapy Perspectives with Growth Factors and Stable Gastric Pentadecapeptide BPC 157-A Review.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- An overview in tendon's physiology, pathomorphology, and treatment options.Cell and tissue research · 2026Review
- Advances in Achilles Tendon Tissue Engineering: Integrating Cells, Scaffolds, and Mechanical Loading for Functional Regeneration.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Stem cell approaches for tendon repair: delusion or insight.The Journal of physiology · 2025Review
- Poor consideration of tissue loading in randomised trials of MSC interventions for tendon pathology: A systematic review using the TIDieR framework.Journal of experimental orthopaedics · 2025Review
- Article
- Enhanced tenogenic potential of tendon-derived mesenchymal stem cells: transcriptomic profiling andFrontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2025Article
- Recent developments in Achilles tendon risk-analyzing rupture factors for enhanced injury prevention and clinical guidance: Current implications of regenerative medicine.Journal of orthopaedic translation · 2024Review
- Tissue-engineered mesenchymal stem cell constructs alleviate tendinopathy by suppressing vascularization.Bioactive materials · 2024Article
- IL-1β + TGF-β2 dual-licensed mesenchymal stem cells have reduced major histocompatibility class I expression and positively modulate tenocyte migration, metabolism, and gene expression.Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association · 2024Article
- Curcumin Improves Functional Recovery of Ruptured Tendon by Promoting Tenogenesis via PI3K/Akt Signaling.Stem cells translational medicine · 2024Article
- Use of mesenchymal stem cells for tendon healing in veterinary and human medicine: getting to the "core" of the problem through a one health approach.Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association · 2023Article
- Mesenchymal stem cell licensing: enhancing MSC function as a translational approach for the treatment of tendon injury.American journal of veterinary research · 2023Article
- Bio-Enhanced Neoligaments Graft Bearing FE002 Primary Progenitor Tenocytes: Allogeneic Tissue Engineering & Surgical Proofs-of-Concept for Hand Ligament Regenerative Medicine.Pharmaceutics · 2023Article
- Process Optimization and Efficacy Assessment of Standardized PRP for Tendinopathies in Sports Medicine: Retrospective Study of Clinical Files and GMP Manufacturing Records in a Swiss University Hospital.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Challenges and perspectives of tendon-derived cell therapy for tendinopathy: from bench to bedside.Stem cell research & therapy · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundStem cell therapy is an emerging treatment for tendon disorders. PURPOSE: To systematically review the efficacy of stem cell therapy for patients with tendon disorders. STUDY
designSystematic review; Level of evidence, 4.
methodsMEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, CENTRAL, PEDro, and SPORTDiscus; trial registers; and gray literature were searched to identify randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-RCTs, cohort studies, and case series with 5 or more cases. Studies investigating any type of stem cell therapy for patients with tendon disorders were eligible if they included patient-reported outcome measures or assessed tendon healing. Risk of bias was assessed through use of the Cochrane risk of bias tools.
resultsThis review included 8 trials (289 patients). All trials had moderate to high risk of bias (level 3 or 4 evidence). In Achilles tendon disorders, 1 trial found that allogenic-derived stem cells led to a faster recovery compared with platelet-rich plasma. Another study found no retears after bone marrow-derived stem cell therapy was used in addition to surgical treatment. There were 4 trials that studied the efficacy of bone marrow-derived stem cell therapy for rotator cuff tears. The controlled trials reported superior patient-reported outcomes and better tendon healing. A further 2 case series found that stem cell therapy improved patient-reported outcomes in patients with patellar tendinopathy and elbow tendinopathy.
conclusionLevel 3 evidence is available to support the efficacy of stem cell therapy for tendon disorders. The findings of available studies are at considerable risk of bias, and evidence-based recommendations for the use of stem cell therapy for tendon disorders in clinical practice cannot be made at this time. Stem cell injections should not be used in clinical practice given the lack of knowledge about potentially serious adverse effects.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.