Compared to platelet-rich plasma therapy, bone marrow aspirate concentrate therapy is safe and offers better pain relief to people having knee osteoarthritis.

A study was carried out to compare efficacy and safety of intra-articular injections of bone marrow aspirate concentrate vs platelet-rich plasma in people having osteoarthritis of the knee.

In this retrospective, non-randomized, comparative study, functionality and pain scores were estimated at baseline and at distinct time points post-injection over twelve months. The following three self-administered, clinically validated questionnaires were used: (i) Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC) for physical function, (ii) visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain intensity, and (iii) Knee injury and osteoarthritis outcome score (KOOS) for knee-associated quality of life and functionality.

For exploring effect of therapy on score evolution between groups (overall) and within groups (between baseline and each time point), a general linear model for repeated measures along with the Sidak test for pairwise comparisons was utilized.

In the intra-articular autologous bone marrow aspirate concentrate group (19 patients, 26 knees), remarkable improvements in VAS, KOOS, and WOMAC scores were witnessed between baseline and 12 months. In the platelet-rich plasma group (10 patients, 13 knees), there were non-significant improvements in all the scores, as shown in Table 1:

Compared to platelet-rich plasma, the bone marrow aspirate concentrate elicited substantial improvement in outcomes by 51.71% on the WOMAC scale, 29.38% on the VAS scale, and 53.89% on the KOOS scale.

In people with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis, bone marrow aspirate concentrate injections are effective and safe to treat pain. It ameliorates pain and functionality to a greater extent when compared to platelet-rich plasma injections.