Level C· Early human research exploring benefits
The influence of adipose-derived stromal vascular fraction cells on the treatment of knee osteoarthritis
Tsubosaka M., Matsumoto T., Sobajima S., Kuroda R.
Studied 57 patients receiving a single intra-articular injection of 2.5 × 10⁷ SVF cells with at least 12 months of follow-up.
Level C· Early human research exploring benefitsEvidence level of this study
Early human evidence such as case series or small samples is exploring possible benefits.
- 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
- Study type
- Prospective Study
- Journal
- BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders (2020)
- Country
- Japan
- Sample size
- 57
- Follow-up
- 12 months or longer
- PMID
- 32252731
- DOI
- 10.1186/s12891-020-03231-3
What was studied
Short-term outcomes of intra-articular SVF cell injection and factors associated with response.
Methods
- • Patients received a single autologous SVF injection with serial clinical scoring.
Key findings
- • Overall clinical scores improved within the 12-month follow-up.
- • Outcomes varied with baseline osteoarthritis severity.
Limitations
- • No control group and single-centre.
- • Short follow-up.
What this study does not prove
- • This study does not prove SVF is an approved treatment or a replacement for standard care.
- • Limited follow-up cannot indicate long-term outcomes.
Clinical interpretation
Provides practical dosing and short-term outcome data, but without a comparator the placebo effect cannot be separated.
Evidence level: Early human research exploring benefits