Stem Cell Res Ther
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Although blinding is a methodologic safeguard to ensure obtaining comparability of groups in a clinical trial, it is very difficult to maintain blinding from the beginning to the end of a study. The aim of the study was to see how proper blinding of both participants and treatment providers from the planning phase of the study to during the study affected the study outcomes. ⋯ Unblinding might be overestimating the treatment effect. These findings suggest that randomized controlled trials testing the efficacy of BMSC therapy should be appropriately designed and rigorously applied to avoid bias.