Stem Cell Res Ther
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Review Meta Analysis
Efficacy and safety of stem cell therapy for the early-stage osteonecrosis of femoral head: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Osteonecrosis of femoral head (ONFH) is a seriously degenerative disease with no effective therapies to slow its progression. Several studies have reported short-term efficacy of stem cells on early-stage ONFH. However, its long-term effect was still unclear especially on progression events. This study was performed to evaluate the long-term efficacy and safety of stem cells and analyze its optimal age group and cell number. ⋯ Our findings build solid evidence that stem cell therapy could be expected to have a long-term effect on preventing early-stage ONFH patients from progression events, such as collapse of femoral head and total hip replacement. Furthermore, patients under 40 may be an ideal age group and the optimal cell number could be at 108 magnitude for this therapy. Further studies including strict RCTs are required to evaluate a clear effect of stem cells on ideal patient profile and the procedures of implantation.
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Review Meta Analysis
Systematic review and meta-analysis of efficacy of mesenchymal stem cells on locomotor recovery in animal models of traumatic brain injury.
The therapeutic potential of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for traumatic brain injury (TBI) is attractive. Conducting systematic review and meta-analyses based on data from animal studies can be used to inform clinical trial design. To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to (i) systematically review the literatures describing the effect of MSCs therapy in animal models of TBI, (ii) determine the estimated effect size of functional locomotor recovery after experimental TBI, and (iii) to provide empirical evidence of biological factors associated with greater efficacy. ⋯ We conclude that MSCs therapy may improve locomotor recovery after TBI. However, additional well-designed and well-reported animal studies are needed to guide further clinical studies.
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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.