Repair of defects after lumbar discectomy with autologous bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells and annular suture / 中华骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To evaluate the safety and validity of enriched autologous bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and annular suture for repairing defect after lumbar discectomy.Methods:Enrichment of autologous BMSCs autologous bone marrow blood was collected from 5 patients undergoing lumbar surgery, and nucleated cells were enriched on gelatin sponge particles by selective cell retention technique. From October 2016 to March 2019, 109 patients with lumbar disc herniation underwent discectomy with mobile microendoscopic discectomy technique, including 61 males and 48 females, aged 24-59 years. Discectomy group 26 cases received simple discectomy. Suture group 39 cases received annular suture after discectomy. BMSCs+suture group 44 cases received intradisc transplantation of gelatin sponge particles enriched with autologous BMSCs and annular suture after discectomy. The perioperative conditions were recorded, with visual analogue scale (VAS), Oswestry dysfunction index (ODI), Pfirrmann grade of disc degeneration, disc height and degree of herniationevaluated after operation.Results:In enrichment test with flow cytometry, the enrichment multiple of nucleated cells and target cells was 6.4±0.9 and 4.2±0.6 respectively, and BMSCs grew well in vitro. The operation time was 35-55 mins. 7 cases in the suture group were transferred to the discectomy group and 10 cases in the BMSCs+suture group were transferred to BMSCs group due to unsuccessful suture. There were no significant differences in VAS, ODI, Pfirrmann grade of disc degeneration, disc height and degree of herniation among the groups. There was no significant difference in intraoperative bleeding, postoperative drainage and length of hospital stay. The incision was healed without redness and swelling. 18 patients were followed up for 6 months, and 91 cases were followed up for 1-3 years (25.0±5.6 months). There was no interbody fusion, heterotopic ossification or infection during follow-up. VAS and ODI decreased significantly after operation in all patients. At final follow-up, the VAS improvement rate of BMSCs+suture group (81.7%±7.9%) was higher than discectomy group (73.0%±8.9%), suture group (74.0%±6.9%) and BMSCs group (75.3%±8.4%); the ODI improvement rate of BMSCs+suture group (91.9%±8.8%) was higher than discectomy group (86.2%±8.1%) and suture group (86.4%±5.5%). According to MRI, the Pfirrmann grade of disc increased 0.7 in discectomy group, 0.6 in suture group, while it did not increased significantly in BMSCs+suture group and BMSCs group, and the progress of Pfirrmann grade in BMSCs+suture group and BMSCs group were lighter than discectomy group and suture group.The disc height decreased in each group, the loss rate of disc height in BMSCs+suture group (17.2%±4.3%) was less than discectomy group (29.3%± 6.3%) and suture group (20.6%±5.7%); and suture group was less than discectomy group. The degree of herniation was reduced by more than 50% in all groups, while 1 case in discectomy group had herniation without clinical symptoms.Conclusion:Autologous BMSCs and annulus suture are safe and effective in repairing the defect after lumbar discectomy, which may help to slow down the degeneration of intervertebral disc.