Stem Cells Therapy as a Treatment for Discogenic Low Back Pain: A Systematic Review

Low back pain (LBP) is 1 of the most common problems that present in 80% of people. LBP can be caused by some pathologies, with discogenic pain being 1 source. Pain from LBP can become chronic and also cause disability. Treatment options for LBP varied from conservative to operative, and a novel treatment nowadays is using stem cells therapy to treat with pain from LBP.

Database searches from Pubmed and ScienceDirect from inception to 13 September 2023. A total of 283 discogenic LBP cases from 8 articles. This study measured clinical outcomes using a visual analog scale (VAS) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) obtained from each study.

Functional outcomes in patients treated with stem cell therapy showed significant improvement ODI and VAS (P < 0.00001). Improvement also showed in Pfirrmann grade before and after treatment with stem cells (P = 0.005). Subgroup analyses using bone marrow aspirate concentrate also showed significant differences in both ODI and VAS (P < 0.00001).

Stem cells therapy could be beneficial as an option of treatment for discogenic LBP in improving pain and activity of daily living.

Intradiscal stem cell therapy is a promising alternative for managing discogenic low back pain, offering improvements in pain and function.