People receive high-priced stem cell injections for degenerative knee joints. But we don’t know if they are working

Over 500 million people around the world Live with osteoarthritis. The knee is affected more often than any other joint, with symptoms (such as pain, stiffness and reduced movement) affecting daily activities.

Bone and knee inflammation is often considered thinning the protective layer of cartilage in the joint. But now we understand that this affects all joint structures, including bones, muscles and nervous endings.

Although there are things You can do to manage Symptoms of osteoarthritis of knee joints, there is no cure, and many people experience persistent pain. As a result, there is a chance So far unverified treatments To enter the market, you can often introduce regulatory security.

Stem cell injections are one of these treatment. AND New review This week, we published my colleagues that evidence of their benefits and damage remain elusive.

Treatment of stem cells

Stem cells are already established as the treatment of some diseases – Mainly blood disordersBone marrow or immune system – which led to the suggestion that they can be used for a much wider range of conditions.

Stem cells were advertised as a promising treatment of osteoarthritis, because they have special properties that allow them to replicate and develop into mature fit cells that form the organs of our body and other tissues, including cartilage.

Treatment of stem cells of degenerative inflammation generally require Tissue sample download From a place wealthy in stem cells (such as bone marrow or fat), treating it to enhance the number of stem cells and then inject to the joint.

We hope that if the right type of stem cells can be introduced to the Osteoartricki joint in the right way and at the right time, they can assist repair damaged structures in the joint or have other effects, such as reduced inflammation.

But no matter how convincing theory we need good evidence of effectiveness and security before adopting a up-to-date therapy.

Stem cell injections have not been approved by Australia Administration of therapeutic goods for the treatment of osteoarthritis. Nevertheless, some clinics in Australia and all over the world still offer them.

Due to regulatory restrictions, we do not have reliable numbers regarding the number of procedures.

They are not covered by Medicare, so the procedure can cost a consumer thousands of dollars.

And, as with any invasive procedure, both Stem cell collection And the joint injection procedure can transfer the potential of damage, such as an infection.

What we found

Our New reviewPublished by the independent international group The Cochrane Collaboration, analyzes all 25 randomized stem cell injections in the case of degenerative knee joint, which have been carried out around the world so far. In total, these studies concerned 1341 participants.

We found that stem cell injections can slightly improve pain and function compared to placebo injection, but the size of the improvement may be too low for the patient to see.

Evidence is not forceful enough to determine if there is any improvement in the quality of life after injecting stem cells, whether it is a growth of cartilage or estimating the risk of damage.

This means that we cannot safely say yet whether any improvement, which may be worth risking (or cost) after injecting stem cells.

Hope or noise?

It is not surprising that we invest hope in finding a transformation treatment of such a common and disabled state. Faith in the benefits of stem cells is common – more than Three -quarters of Americans Find out that stem cells can alleviate joint pain and more than half believe that this treatment is healing.

But what happens if up-to-date treatment has been introduced to practice before it clearly proves that it is unthreatening and effective?

The exploit of unverified, invasive therapy is not only associated with the risk of intervention itself. Even if the treatment was harmless, there is a risk of unnecessary cost, inconvenience and lost opportunity for the patient to exploit existing therapies, which are known to be effective.

What’s more, if we have to play catching up to try to determine the base of evidence for treatment, which is already in practice, we risk redirecting occasional research resources towards therapy, which may not be effective, simply because the genie is out of the bottle.

Working in the direction of a vivid answer

A few larger ones Clinical examinations They are currently in progress and should enhance our understanding of whether stem cell injections are unthreatening and effective in the case of osteoarthritis.

Our review includes “Living evidence“This means that we will continue to add up-to-date tests as soon as they are published, so the review is always current and offers a comprehensive and trustworthy summary to assist people with osteoarthritis and their healthcare careers in making informed decisions.

In the meantime there are many Treatment options based on evidence. Treatments not related to treatment, such as physiotherapy, regular exercise, maintaining fit weight and cognitive behavioral therapy can be more effective than you think. Anti -inflammatory and analgesic drugs can also play a supporting role.

Importantly, it is not inevitable that osteo -arttic joints deteriorate with time. Still joint exchange operation It is often very effective, it is the last last and fortunately many people never have to take this step.