Efficacy of stromal vascular fraction for knee osteoarthritis: A prospective, single-centre, non-randomized study with 2 years follow-up

BACKGROUND Current osteoarthritis (OA) treatments focus on symptom relief without addressing the underlying disease process. In regenerative medicine, current treatments have limitations. In regenerative medicine, more research is needed for intra-articular stromal vascular fraction (SVF) injections in OA, including dosage optimization, long-term efficacy, safety, comparisons with other treatments, and mechanism exploration. AIM To compare the efficacy of intra-articular SVF with corticosteroid (ICS) injections in patients with primary knee OA. METHODS The study included 50 patients with Kellgren-Lawrence grades II and III OA. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive either a single intra-articular SVF injection (group A) or a single intra-articular ICS (triamcinolone) (group B) injection. Patients were followed up at 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months. Visual analog score (VAS) and International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) scores were administered before the procedure and at all follow-ups. The safety of SVF in terms of adverse and severe adverse events was recorded. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS Version 26.0, IBM Corp, Chicago, IL, United States. RESULTS Both groups had similar demographics and baseline clinical characteristics. Follow-up showed minor patient loss, resulting in 23 and 24 in groups A and B respectively. Group A experienced a notable reduction in pain, with VAS scores decreasing from 7.7 to 2.4 over 24 months, compared to a minor reduction from 7.8 to 6.2 in Group B. This difference in pain reduction in group A was statistically significant from the third month onwards. Additionally, Group A showed significant improvements in knee functionality, with IKDC scores rising from 33.4 to 83.10, whereas Group B saw a modest increase from 36.7 to 45.16. The improvement in Group A was statistically significant from 6 months and maintained through 24 months. CONCLUSION Our study demonstrated that intra-articular administration of SVF can lead to reduced pain and improved knee function in patients with primary knee OA. More adequately powered, multi-center, double-blinded, randomised clinical trials with longer follow-ups are needed to further establish safety and justify its clinical use.