New Clinical Study on Bone Marrow Concentrate as a Treatment for Musculoskeletal Injuries Under Ultrasound Guidance

January 4, 2018

bone-marrow

Treatment for musculoskeletal ailments that use the patients’ own bone marrow (also known as autologous bone marrow aspirate concentrate or BMAC) is progressing to potentially treat a variety of conditions including osteoarthritis, bone fractures, injured ligaments and tendons, joint injuries, dying bone tissue and other tendon disorders. M.L. Louis and colleagues recently conducted a clinical study highlighting their preliminary experience with such therapies under ultrasound guidance. According to this study, five patients received six ultrasound guided injections within a one-and-a-half-year period. Of these patients, four were injected in and around the tendon for chronic hamstring tendon injury, and two were injected within a joint (one for a tear in the cartilage surrounding the hip socket, and one for injury of the cartilage that lines the talus bone in the foot). Of these six procedures, five were available for follow up; Four out of five reported symptom relief and one patient (a 72-year-old male with chronic hamstring tendon injury) reported no improvement in symptoms after treatment. The group reported that their findings are comparable to earlier publications in the field and that musculoskeletal BMAC injections under ultrasound guidance are well-tolerated with high rates of symptom relief reported by patients. The above findings lend great optimism for future clinical outcomes of BMAC for musculoskeletal injuries. However, more research with greater number of patient enrollment  is needed to determine this therapy’s long-term effects and to fully understand how the treatment works.

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