Retrospective analysis of soft tissue injuries treated with allogenic bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells

Abstract

Objectives: Tendon and ligament pathology has been managed successfully with mesenchymal stem cells from various biological sources. This retrospective study aims to evaluate the re-injury rate of the treatment of tendon and ligament lesions with allogenic bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs). Methods: Data from horses treated with allogenic BM- MSCs was recovered retrospectively from hospital records. Horses were included if they were solely treated with BM- MSCs, received only one treatment, had no other concur- rent lesion at the time of treatment, and had sufficient information about lameness and ultrasound evaluations. Outcome was evaluated in terms of re-injury within 12 months after treatment. Frequency counts were calcu- lated, and a chi-square test of homogeneity was used to determine whether distribution was identical across differ- ent disciplines and different anatomic structures. Results: Forty-two horses were included: 8 show jum- pers, 15 dressage horses, 15 Standardbreds and 7 leisure horses. There were 22 digital flexor tendons and 20 liga- ment injuries. The overall re-injury rate was 33%. No sta- tistical evidence was found to conclude that re-injury rate was influenced by discipline (p-value = 0.987) or ana- tomic structure (p-value = 0.592). No adverse reactions were observed on the treated horses. Conclusions: The treatment was safe, and re-injury rate was lower than reported when using conventional thera- pies. Our sample suggests that re-injury rate is the same across the different disciplines and anatomic structures. Further studies should be conducted, imposing a larger sample size and a control group.