Introduction

Clinical studies of intra-articular injection of mesenchymal stem cells for osteoarthritis (OA) indicate its efficacy. Here, we retrospectively investigated the associations of pretherapeutic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings with the clinical outcomes up to 6 months, after intra-articular administration of adipose-derived stem cells (ASCs) to knee OA patients.

Methods

We first analyzed alterations of the visual analog scale (VAS) and knee injury and osteoarthritis outcome score (KOOS) in 57 knees of 34 patients from whom clinical scores were obtained before ASC therapy, and at 1, 3, and 6 months. Among the patients, we further examined MRI findings of 34 knees of 19 patients whose pretherapeutic MRI data were available.

Results

The mean improvement of VAS and KOOS-total during 6 months was 2.6 ± 4.0 (from 6.1 ± 2.5 to 3.5 ± 2.9, P < 0.001) and 10.2 ± 12.4 (from 54.4 ± 12.7 to 64.6 ± 13.8, P < 0.01), respectively. Scales related to pain and symptoms improved earlier than those related to activities of daily living (ADL) and sports/recreation. Improvement of VAS and KOOS-sports/recreation was significantly higher in patients with more severe cartilage lesions. Similarly, osteophyte lesions were associated significantly with improvement of VAS and KOOS-ADL, and BML was associated with KOOS-ADL and KOOS-sports/recreation.

Conclusions

In intra-articular administration of autologous ASCs for knee OA, improvement of VAS and KOOS-sports/recreation was significantly higher in patients with more severe cartilage lesions. Similarly, osteophyte lesions were associated significantly with improvement of VAS and KOOS-ADL, and BML was associated with KOOS-ADL and KOOS-sports/recreation. Clinical studies with larger numbers of patients and various kinds of data are necessary to predict therapeutic effects.

中文翻译：

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关节内施用自体脂肪干细胞治疗膝骨关节炎的临床结果和 MRI 结果的关联。

介绍

关节内注射间充质干细胞治疗骨关节炎 (OA) 的临床研究表明其疗效。在这里，我们回顾性研究了在关节内向膝关节 OA 患者注射脂肪干细胞 (ASC) 后，治疗前磁共振成像 (MRI) 发现与长达 6 个月的临床结果之间的关联。

方法

我们首先分析了 34 名患者的 57 名膝关节的视觉模拟评分 (VAS) 和膝关节损伤和骨关节炎结果评分 (KOOS) 的变化，这些患者在 ASC 治疗前以及 1、3 和 6 个月时获得了临床评分。在这些患者中，我们进一步检查了 19 名患者的 34 个膝关节的 MRI 结果，这些患者有治疗前的 MRI 数据。

结果

6 个月内 VAS 和 KOOS-total 的平均改善分别为 2.6 ± 4.0（从 6.1 ± 2.5 到 3.5 ± 2.9，P <  0.001）和 10.2 ± 12.4（从 54.4 ± 12.7 到 64.6 ± 13.8，P  < 0.01） . 与疼痛和症状相关的量表比与日常生活活动 (ADL) 和运动/娱乐相关的量表改善得更早。在更严重的软骨损伤患者中，VAS 和 KOOS 运动/娱乐的改善显着更高。同样，骨赘病变与 VAS 和 KOOS-ADL 的改善显着相关，而 BML 与 KOOS-ADL 和 KOOS-运动/娱乐相关。

结论

在膝关节 OA 的自体 ASC 的关节内给药中，具有更严重软骨损伤的患者的 VAS 和 KOOS 运动/娱乐的改善显着更高。同样，骨赘病变与 VAS 和 KOOS-ADL 的改善显着相关，而 BML 与 KOOS-ADL 和 KOOS-运动/娱乐相关。需要大量患者和各种数据的临床研究来预测治疗效果。