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. 2020 Jan 17;8(1):2325967119893634.
doi: 10.1177/2325967119893634. eCollection 2020 Jan.

Evaluation of the Consistency and Composition of Commercially Available Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate Systems

Jason L Dragoo  1 , Roberto A Guzman  1
Affiliations

Evaluation of the Consistency and Composition of Commercially Available Bone Marrow Aspirate Concentrate Systems

Jason L Dragoo et al. Orthop J Sports Med. .

Abstract

Background: Bone marrow aspirate (BMA) concentrate (BMAC) has gained popularity as a treatment modality for various orthopaedic conditions; however, there are still inconsistencies in its reported therapeutic efficacy. This may be because of the many different commercial BMAC preparation systems used clinically, which generate dissimilar concentrate products.

Purpose: To compare 3 commercially available BMAC preparation systems: Harvest SmartPrep 3, Biomet BioCUE, and Arthrex Angel. We evaluated the consistency of each of these systems and compared the composition of their concentrate products.

Study design: Controlled laboratory study.

Methods: A total of 10 patients donated whole blood and BMA, which were combined and processed with the 3 different BMAC preparation systems. Samples were taken before and after processing for the measurement of white blood cells (WBC), platelets (PLT), CD34+ cells, and colony-forming unit-fibroblast (CFU-F). To evaluate consistency, the variances of cell yield and concentration increase from baseline for each cell type were compared between systems. To compare concentrate product composition, differences between the systems' mean cell yield and concentration increase from baseline for each cell type were evaluated.

Results: The Harvest system (variance, 0.25) concentrated WBC more consistently than the Arthrex system (variance, 3.25) (P = .024), but no other differences in consistency were noted between the 3 systems. The Harvest system recovered the greatest percentage of CFU-F (82.4% ± 18.2%), CD34+ cells (81.1% ± 28.5%), and WBC (77.3% ± 8.6%), whereas the Biomet system recovered the greatest percentage of PLTs (92.9% ± 27.3%). The Arthrex system concentrated PLT to the greatest degree (11.10 ± 2.05 times baseline), while the Biomet system concentrated WBC to the greatest degree (5.99 ± 1.04 times baseline).

Conclusion: The consistency of the 3 systems was similar for all but 1 of the evaluated cell types. However, the composition of the concentrate products differed across systems. This may grant each system unique advantages without having to sacrifice reproducibility.

Clinical relevance: Understanding the consistency of different BMAC preparation systems and their product makeup may aid in determining optimal therapeutic doses of different cell types.

Keywords: autologous bone marrow harvesting; bone healing; bone marrow concentration; connective tissue healing; mesenchymal progenitor cells.

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Conflict of interest statement

One or more of the authors has declared the following potential conflict of interest or source of funding: BMAC specimens and external laboratory work were provided by the companies included in this study: Arthrex, Harvest, and Zimmer Biomet. J.L.D. has received consulting fees from Arthrex, DePuy/Medical Device Business Services, Harvest, RTI Surgical, and Zimmer Biomet. AOSSM checks author disclosures against the Open Payments Database (OPD). AOSSM has not conducted an independent investigation on the OPD and disclaims any liability or responsibility relating thereto.

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