Bone marrow aspirate concentrate yielded good outcomes for foot, ankle injuries
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Published results showed bone marrow aspirate concentrate yielded positive clinical and functional outcomes for patients with osteochondral and cartilage lesions of the talus and acute Achilles tendon ruptures.
In January 2021, researchers used Embase, MEDLINE, PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature and Cochrane databases to identify 11 studies that analyzed the effect of bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC) on a total of 527 patients (mean age of 36.26 years) with osteochondral lesions of the talus, cartilage lesions of the talus or acute Achilles tendon ruptures. Seven studies also compared BMAC with matrix-induced autologous chondrocyte implantation, particulate juvenile articular cartilage or microfracture.
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Overall, across the literature, BMAC yielded improved function and reduced VAS foot and ankle pain scores. While all interventions resulted in improvements in function and pain control, researchers found no statistical difference between BMAC and the treatments from the seven comparative studies.
No major complications were reported due to the use of BMAC; however, two patients reported superficial peroneal nerve dysesthesia, and four patients who remained symptomatic required a revision procedure. Other complications included subchondral cyst formation, tenderness at the harvest site after aspiration and knee stiffness, according to the study.
“BMAC can help stimulate a hyaline cartilage repair tissue response through chondrocyte differentiation from bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells and paracrine signaling,” the researchers wrote in the study. “BMAC can influence healing responses by decreasing cellular apoptosis and inflammation and by activating cell proliferation, differentiation and angiogenesis,” they added.
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