Outcome of bone marrow derived chondrocyte injection for meniscal injuries: A preliminary study

Abstract

Background and objective: Meniscus retention after injuries important for long-term effective functioning of the knee joint and injured meniscus usually require surgical repair. This preliminary study was conducted to determine if injection of Bone Marrow Derived Chondrocytes (BMDC) will regenerate the injured meniscus.Patients and methods: In 15 patients, twenty CC of Bone marrow was aspirated under aseptic technique under local anesthesia and sedation and in vitro chondrocyte was expanded from the mesenchymal stem cells. After three weeks of bone marrow aspiration 5 million chondrocytes were injected in the effected knee joint. Patients were followed up in the clinics and data collected of pain and range of movements. At 3 months the knee joint was assessed by clinical examination and a magnetic resonance imaging was done and pre and post injection MRI was evaluated by the musculo-skeletal radiologist who was blinded of the MRI scans.Results: Fourteen patients were in the study group which could be analyzed. The mean age of patients was 36.4±5.1 years. There were complaints of any side effects of the Bone marrow aspirated neither site nor the site of injection in the knee. The average pain score pre-injection was 6.36.3±1.25 compared to 90 days post injection was 1.4±0.51 (P<0.0001). The range of movements Flexion improved from 90.4±10.13 to 116±5.16 (P <0.001). Post injection MRI showed the healing of the all the meniscus with good thickness. Conclusion:Our study shows that BMDC injection in the knee joint showed great potential to heal the injured meniscus. This calls for further randomized control studies.

Autologous Bone Marrow-Derived Chondrocytes for Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized Controlled Trial

“…We did not encounter any risks involved in using the autologous chondrocytes, and we felt patients were more serene in using their own cells rather than allogeneic material. Moreover, in an earlier study, we used ABMDC for healing of the torn meniscus with convincing results [ 27 ].…”