Autologous Micro-Fragmented Adipose Tissue (MFAT) to Treat Symptomatic Knee Osteoarthritis: Early Outcomes of a Consecutive Case Series

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

The study aimed to evaluate the short-term clinical effect, therapeutic response rate (TRR%), and therapy safety of a single intra-articular autologous MFAT injection for symptomatic knee OA. Secondly, patient- and pathology-related parameters were investigated to tighten patient selection for MFAT therapy. Sixty-four subjects with symptomatic mild-severe knee OA were enrolled in a single-center trial and received a unilateral ( n = 37) or bilateral ( n = 27) MFAT injection. After liposuction, the adipose tissue was mechanically processed with the Lipogem ® device, which eventually produced 8-10 cc of MFAT. Subjects were clinically assessed by means of the KOOS, NRS, UCLA, and EQ-5D at baseline and 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after injection. Adverse events were recorded at each follow-up timepoint. The TRR was defined according to the OMERACT-OARSI criteria and baseline MRI was scored following the MOAKS classification. The TRR of the index knee was 64% at 3 months and 45% at 12 months after injection. Therapy responders at 12 months improved with 28.3 ± 11.4 on KOOS pain, while non-responders lost -2.1 ± 11.2 points. All clinical scores, except the UCLA, improved significantly at follow-up compared to baseline ( p p = 0.003). The study demonstrated an early clinical improvement but a mediocre response rate of 45% at 12 months after a single intra-articular injection with autologou

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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