Adipose Tissue Injections Deliver Lasting Relief for Knee Osteoarthritis

A case series of 49 patients shows significant improvement in pain and function lasting up to three years after a single injection of micro-fragmented adipose tissue.

67 Knees Treated With One Minimally Invasive Injection

Researchers in Italy studied 49 patients with knee osteoarthritis who received injections of their own processed fat tissue. The treatment used Lipogems® technology to prepare micro-fragmented adipose tissue (specially processed fat from the patient's own body). This tissue contains mesenchymal stem cells—regenerative cells that help reduce inflammation and support tissue repair.

All patients had tried other conservative treatments before without adequate relief. The study followed patients for an average of nearly three years, with some tracked for almost five years.

Pain and Function Scores Improved at Every Check-Up

Patients completed standardised questionnaires measuring pain and daily function before treatment and at regular intervals afterward. Both the WOMAC and KOOS scores (common tools for assessing knee arthritis symptoms) showed significant improvement at every follow-up point.

• Improvements were measured at one, three, six, twelve, twenty-four, and thirty-six months

• Statistical analysis showed highly significant results (p < 0.001) at all time points

• Benefits persisted throughout the entire study period

Around 80% of Patients Achieved Meaningful Function Gains

The researchers looked at whether improvements were large enough to matter in daily life. They used a standard called the "minimal clinically important difference" to determine this.

• About 80% of patients achieved meaningful improvement in physical function at all follow-up points

• The percentage reaching meaningful pain relief increased over time

• Patients with more severe symptoms before treatment were more likely to experience significant improvement

Patients With Worse Starting Symptoms Showed Better Responses

An interesting finding emerged: those who began the study with more pain and limited function tended to show the greatest improvement after treatment. This suggests that micro-fragmented adipose tissue injections may be particularly valuable for patients with significant symptoms who are not ready for or do not want joint replacement surgery.

The researchers also found that:

• Women showed somewhat larger improvements than men

• Patients with milder arthritis (Kellgren-Lawrence grade one) improved more than those with moderate arthritis (grade two)

• These patterns were most noticeable during the first two years

A Promising Option for Patients Seeking Alternatives to Surgery

This study supports the use of micro-fragmented adipose tissue as an effective treatment for knee osteoarthritis that has not responded to traditional conservative approaches. The injection uses your own fat tissue, which is processed during a single procedure without the need for laboratory cultivation.

The findings are encouraging because they show lasting benefits—patients continued to report better pain and function years after their injection. For those living with knee osteoarthritis who want to delay or avoid joint replacement, this research suggests that adipose tissue injection deserves serious consideration.

It's worth noting that this was a case series without a comparison group, so further research with controlled trials would help confirm these results. However, the consistent improvements across nearly seventy knees over an extended follow-up period provide meaningful evidence of benefit.

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Source: Russo et al., None, 2023.