Study Breakdown: Expanded Wharton’s Jelly for Knee Osteoarthritis with Before/After MRI Data

Link to study, found in the Regenerative Medicine Journal, dated August 2021.

The problem?

• Knee osteoarthritis

The treatment studied?

• 2 injections of 40 million expanded (passage 3) Wharton's Jelly mesenchymal stem cells

• Ultrasound guidance injection into the knee joint, 1 month between injections

Patients Studied?

16 patients aged 42-73 with knee osteoarthritis, with 12-month MRI follow-up

Author Info?

Led by Dr. Osama Samara, University of Jordan

Limitations?

• Small sample size (only 16 patients)

• No placebo

• Needs longer term follow up

Study Breakdown:

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a common condition in adults, affecting the quality of life of an estimated 9-14 million people in the USA, primarily over the age of 65. In short? Knees often wear down and get crabby.

Beyond age, the authors cite obesity, dietary factors, and sedentary as risk factors for the condition. In this study, they took 16 patients with KOA, verified by MRI, x-ray, and examination. They used this study to classify the degree of KOA into none, mild, moderate, and severe.

To avoid potential bias, they say they had two radiologists independently verify the diagnostic data.

Results at a glance:

The authors mentioned these results:

• Significant functional improvement

• Significant pain reduction

• Significant improvements found on follow-up MRI including

  • Cartilage Loss

  • Osteophytes (a.k.a. bone spurs, bony growths that form on bones)

  • Bone marrow lesions (potentially painful changes in the bone’s tissue, which shows up on MRI)

  • Effusion (fluid buildup in the joint)

  • Synovitis (inflammation of the joint)

Table of all measured improvements:

From - Ultrasound-Guided Intra-Articular Injection of Expanded Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Knee Osteoarthritis: A Safety/Efficacy Study with MRI Data

Regenerative Medicine

Osama Samara, 2021

In conclusion:

The authors found that 2 treatments of expanded Wharton’s Jelly spaced 1 month apart could be a potential future therapy for KOA.

Before taking on any regenerative therapy, especially those considered unproven and/or experimental, please talk with your doctor(s). This isn’t medical advice, simply an interpretation of the research.