Sahaj Therapy for knee osteoarthritis: an innovative and promising treatment

Regenerative therapy has shown promising results in the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA) knee with Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) Grades I-III. Vinay Tantuway et al compared the safety, efficacy, functional, and clinical outcomes of intra-articular implantation of autologous adipose tissue-derived stromal vascular fraction (SVF) isolated using direct ultrasonic cavitation (Sahaj therapy-Cell Innovation Patented Technology) and saline injection in knee osteoarthritis.

The present prospective observational study was conducted over 3 years. The authors enrolled 120 patients in this study, where four patients got excluded as they did not meet the inclusion criteria. The remaining 116 patients were randomized into two groups, one with autologous adipose tissue-derived SVF and the other group with saline injection. A comparison of mean KOOS and VAS scores at different follow-ups was done using Paired ‘t’ test. A p value of < 0.05 was considered significant.

• The results show that the SVF group had significantly higher KOOS scores (78.49±6.54 in the SVF group vs 59.19±5.14 in the saline group), respectively (p < 0.001).

• The SVF group had significantly lesser VAS scores (3.17±0.94 in the SVF group vs 3.89±1.04 in the saline group), respectively (p< 0.001).

• There were no serious adverse effects of either autologous adipose tissue-derived SVF or saline injection.

• Some patients experienced pain, swelling, and ecchymosis at the lipoaspiration site, which resolved in a short period with the use of icing and common analgesics.

• All the patients were followed up till 36 months after SVF and saline injection.

• The study results demonstrated good safety and efficacy and significant improvement in the functional outcome and reduction in the pain score with SVF throughout the study period.

The authors concluded that – “Autologous adipose tissue-derived SVF is a better choice for treating knee osteoarthritis. For individuals with degenerative osteoarthritis, autologous SVF grafting in the same surgical procedure is an innovative and promising treatment modality. Even after 3 years of follow-up, the study participants with OA knee have shown a good clinical and functional outcome.”

Further reading:

Clinical Outcome of Minimally Manipulated, Mechanically Isolated Autologous Adipose Tissue Derived Stromal Vascular Fraction (Sahaj Therapy®) in Knee Osteoarthritis—Randomized Controlled Trial

Vinay Tantuway, Wayne Thomas et al

Indian Journal of Orthopaedics (2023) 57:1646–1658

https://doi.org/10.1007/s43465-023-00981-9