A randomized control trial evaluating role of cellular therapy in osteoarthritis of knee

Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease of the joints which involves cartilage. Osteoarthitis of the knees is the most common joint disease. It is chronic progressive degenerative disease. It affects 30% of the people having age more than 50 years. Various studies have shown that osteoarthritis leads to a major burden on the economy of many developing countries.1,2,3 There have been various non-operative and operative modalities used in the treatment of osteoarthritis of knees. But early osteoarthritis is mostly treated with non-operative modalities. These modalities range from Oral analgesics i.e. Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) are most commonly used to intra-articular PRP injections and BMAC injections. All these modalities have their own plus points and drawbaks. NSAIDs are cheaper and more easily available than the others. They have short term good effect but on prolonged usage lead to systemic side effects. Various oral supplements like Glucosamine and Chondrotin sulfate are  shown to have good results in treatment of osteoarthtitis of knees on prolonged use but these cannot be considered as ideal treatment for the same. Intra-articular injections of steroids are shown to have good short term effects but like NSAIDs on prolonged usage are known to cause systemic side effects as well as adverse effects on local cartilage. Intra-articular injections of viscosupplements particularly Hyaluronic acid is another modality. Various studies have shown promising effects in early osteoarthtitis of knees.