Stem Cell Research Summary

At the time this policy was created, the literature consisted almost entirely of review articles describing the potential of stem-cell therapy for orthopedic applications in humans, along with basic science experiments on sources of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), regulation of cell growth and differentiation, and development of scaffolds. (3) Authors of these reviews indicated that the technology was in an early stage of development. In literature searches of the MEDLINE database, use of cultured MSCs in humans was identified in only a few centers in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Since the policy was created, the evidence base has been steadily increasing, although nearly all of the studies to date have been performed outside of the U.S. and are retrospective comparisons.