Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33772602›Full record

ArticleKnee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA2021

Subchondral and intra-articular injections of bone marrow concentrate are a safe and effective treatment for knee osteoarthritis: a prospective, multi-center pilot study.

Elizaveta Kon, Angelo Boffa, Luca Andriolo, Alessandro Di Martino, Berardo Di Matteo, Nicola Magarelli, Maurilio Marcacci, Francesco Onorato, Nicoletta Trenti, Stefano Zaffagnini and 1 more

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Article in Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
26citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
5.1field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

26 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 41 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Surgical treatments of bone marrow lesions.Journal of experimental orthopaedics · 2026
    Review
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Subchondral Bone Injections for the Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis.The archives of bone and joint surgery · 2026
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Review
  11. Article
  12. Comparative outcome analyses of subchondralWorld journal of experimental medicine · 2025
    Article
  13. Review
  14. Review
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Bone marrow aspirate concentrate quality is affected by age and harvest site.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2023
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Elizaveta KonIRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Rozzano, MI, Italy.
Angelo BoffaClinica Ortopedica e Traumatologica 2, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy. angeloboffa@libero.it.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1523-6900
Luca AndrioloClinica Ortopedica e Traumatologica 2, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy.
Alessandro Di MartinoClinica Ortopedica e Traumatologica 2, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy.
Berardo Di MatteoDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Pieve Emanuele, MI, Italy.
Nicola MagarelliIRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Rozzano, MI, Italy.
Maurilio MarcacciIRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Rozzano, MI, Italy.
Francesco OnoratoIRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Rozzano, MI, Italy.
Nicoletta TrentiIRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital, Rozzano, MI, Italy.
Stefano ZaffagniniClinica Ortopedica e Traumatologica 2, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy.
Giuseppe FilardoApplied and Translational Research (ATR) Center, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Bologna, Italy.
Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli · ITHumanitas University · ITIRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital · IT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeSubchondral bone is becoming a treatment target for knee OA patients, with promising early findings on the use of bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC). The aim of this prospective, multi-centric pilot study was to evaluate safety as well as clinical and MRI outcomes of a combined approach of intra-articular and subchondral BMAC injections.

methodsThirty patients (19 men, 11 women, 56.4 ± 8.1 years) with symptomatic knee OA were treated with a combination of an intra-articular and two subchondral BMAC injections (femoral condyle and tibial plateau). Patients were evaluated at baseline and at 1-3-6-12 months of follow-up with the IKDC subjective, VAS, KOOS, and EQ-VAS scores. The MRI evaluation was performed with the WORMS score.

resultsNo major complications were reported and only two patients were considered treatment failures, requiring a new injective or surgical treatment. The IKDC subjective score improved significantly from 40.5 ± 12.5 to 59.9 ± 16.1 at 3 months, 59.1 ± 12.2 at 6 months, and 62.6 ± 19.4 at 12 months (p < 0.0005). A similar improvement was reported for VAS pain and all KOOS subscales at all follow-ups, while EQ-VAS did not show any significant improvement. The MRI analysis showed a significant bone marrow edema reduction (p = 0.003), while the remaining WORMS parameters did not show any significant changes.

conclusionThe pilot evaluation of this combined BMAC injective treatment showed safety and positive outcome up to 12 months of follow-up in patients with symptomatic knee OA associated with subchondral bone alterations. These findings suggest that targeting both subchondral bone and joint environment can provide promising results, and that BMAC can be a valid option for this combined approach to treat knee OA.

Indexed as

Osteoarthritis, KneeBone MarrowFemaleHumansInjections, Intra-ArticularKnee JointMalePilot ProjectsProspective StudiesTreatment OutcomeBMACBone marrowInjectiveIntra-articularKneeOsteoarthritisSubchondral

Identifiers

PMID33772602
OpenAlexW3150852047

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

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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.