Prospective evaluation of autologous bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell injection in meniscal injury

Figure 1 Flowchart of patient screening, enrollment, and follow-up. A total of 245 patients were assessed for eligibility. After exclusion of 165 patients who did not meet the inclusion criteria or met exclusion criteria, 80 patients were enrolled. Four patients were lost to follow-up, and 76 patients completed the 12-month follow-up.

Figure 2 Representative magnetic resonance imaging images of meniscal tissue post-mesenchymal stem cell treatment. A: Pre-treatment sagittal T2-weighted image showing high signal intensity (arrow) in the posterior horn of the medial meniscus, indicating grade III degenerative changes; B: Pre-treatment coronal T2-weighted image demonstrating intrasubstance signal abnormality (arrow) in the medial meniscus; C: Post-treatment (12 months) sagittal T2-weighted image showing reduced signal intensity (arrow) and improved tissue homogeneity in the posterior horn.