Benchmark Comparison of Bone Marrow Aspiration Systems: Increased Progenitor Cell Concentrations Achieved Without...

Background Bone marrow aspirate (BMA) is widely used in orthopedic and regenerative procedures due to its content of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs), hematopoietic progenitors, and supportive cellular elements that contribute to bone healing and tissue repair. Conventional bone marrow aspiration techniques are limited by progressive hemodilution, in which peripheral blood increasingly contaminates the aspirate as volume is drawn from a fixed location. This process both reduces MSC and progenitor concentrations and increases variability in aspirate samples. Objectives The purpose of this study was to characterize the cell yield of a novel bone marrow aspiration system (B-MAN™ Bone Marrow Aspiration System, SurGenTec, Boca Raton, FL) under standardized testing conditions. These results were compared with published benchmark data from a study that analyzed centrifuge-processed bone marrow concentrate (BMAC) systems and a no-spin aspiration device analyzed in the same reference laboratory used in this study. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on bone marrow aspirate obtained from the anterior iliac crest of five adult male subjects (age range 18-44) using the B-MAN™ system during elective orthopedic procedures. Procedures included anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, hip labral repair, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction with tibial plateau fixation, and Achilles tendon repair. Aspirations of 1 mL were performed using a 10 mL syringe through a single cortical access site. Samples were not centrifuged. Laboratory analysis of a portion of the aspirate included total nucleated cell (TNC) concentration, CD34+ cell count, colony-forming unit-fibroblast (CFU-f) concentration, and cell viability. Results Mean counts for these aspirates were 102 × 10⁶ TNC/mL, 15,145 CFU-f/mL, and 1,143,216 CD34+ cells/mL, with a mean viability of 96.9%. The mean of individual CFU-f:TNC ratios was 0.013% (range 0.006-0.020%), at or slightly above the upper bound of the expected range for minimally diluted marrow (0.001-0.01%), consistent with known inter-subject variability in marrow cellularity. These values place B-MAN aspirates at the upper range of concentrations reported in published benchmark studies evaluating centrifuge-processed BMAC and optimized no-spin aspiration systems. Conclusions In this descriptive laboratory evaluation, aspiration using the B-MAN™ system yielded high progenitor cell concentrations in unprocessed marrow aspirate. These findings support further investigation of aspiration interface engineering as a complementary and potentially impactful strategy to needle tip relocation for reducing hemodilution.