The following is a summary of “Efficacy and safety of mesenchymal stem cells in patients with acute ischemic stroke: a meta-analysis,” published in the January 2024 issue of Neurology by Huang et al. 

Researchers started a retrospective study to systematically assess mesenchymal stem cells’ therapeutic potential and safety profile for treating acute ischemic stroke.

They manually searched electronic databases (PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and Web of Science) until February 1, 2023. Stata version 15.0 was used for data analysis.

The results showed 9 randomized controlled studies involving 316 individuals (159 mesenchymal stem cells, 147 control groups), indicating a significant reduction in NIHSS scores in acute ischemic stroke patients with mesenchymal stem cell administration than placebo [SMD=-0.99, 95% CI (-1.93, -0.05)]. However, differences in Barthel Index [SMD = 0.48, 95% CI (-0.55, 1.51)], Modified Rankin Score [SMD = 0.45, 95% CI (1.11, 0.21)], and adverse events [RR = 0.68, 95% CI (0.40, 1.17)] were not statistically significant compared to the placebo group.

Investigators concluded that despite improvements in neurological deficits, mesenchymal stem cell transplantation for ischemic stroke offered no notable impact on long-term functional outcomes in past studies.

Source: bmcneurol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12883-024-03542-1