Treatment of Osteoarthritis with Paqe 3 Version 2 the Stromal Vascular Fraction of Adipose tissue 02-11-2015 During the past decade researchers have started to explore the regenerative potential of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) in OA5. MSCs are multipotent progenitor cells able to give rise to osteocytes, adipocytes, chondrocytes, myoblasts and tenocytes6. MSCs were first used to treat Chondral defects in 19987 and to treat OA in 20028. Since, a number of case reports and prospective series have been published showing significant short term and long term effect on pain and cartilage thickness5. Recently a prospective case-series of 1128 patients involving 1856 joints were treated with the stromal vascular fraction of abdominal Adipose tissue (SVF) which is a rich source of mesenchymal stem cells. 86% of the treated patients showed an improvement of at least 50% in modified Knee/Hip Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS/HOOS) at 3 months and 129. Only 0.9% of patients were non-responders showing no improvement after treatment. No serious adverse effects like infection or tumor formation were observed9, which is in accordance with previous studies10. Non-manipulated or minimally manipulated cell therapies have been used within a wide range of medical conditions including: stroke, myocardial infarction, Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis and breast augmentation. More than 17,000 scientific articles have been published reporting treatment of more than 320,000 patients11. No severe safety issues have been raised12.