Effectiveness and safety of stem cell therapy for diabetic foot: a meta-analysis update

Relatively higher-quality human studies compared with other topics in this database, e.g. multiple RCTs or systematic reviews. This does not mean it is standard or approved care.

• 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)

Background Diabetic foot (DF) is one of the most common and serious complications of diabetes mellitus (DM), which brings great psychological and economic pressure to patients. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of stem cells in the treatment of diabetic foot. Methods All relevant studies in Cochrane, Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and WanFang databases were systematically searched for meta-analysis. The outcomes consisted of ulcer or wound healing rate, amputation rate, new vessels, ankle-brachial index (ABI), transcutaneous oxygen pressure (TcPO2), pain-free walking distance, and rest pain score. Dichotomous outcomes were described as risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), while continuous data were presented as standardized mean differences (SMDs) with 95% CIs. Statistical analysis was performed with RevMan 5.3 software. Results A total of 14 studies with 683 participants were included in the meta-analysis. Meta-analysis showed that stem cell therapy was more effective than conventional therapy in terms of ulcer or wound healing rate [OR = 8.20 (5.33, 12.62)], improvement in lower extremity ischemia(new vessels) [OR = 16.48 (2.88, 94.18)], ABI [MD = 0.13 (0.04, 0.08)], TcO2[MD = 4.23 (1.82, 6.65)], pain-free walking distance [MD = 220.79 (82.10, 359.48)], and rest pain score [MD = - 1.94 (- 2.50, - 1.39)], while

Evidence level

Relatively higher-quality human studies compared with other topics in this database, e.g. multiple RCTs or systematic reviews. This does not mean it is standard or approved care.

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