[Research Announcement] In Biotherapy for Knee Osteoarthritis (ASC/PFC-FD™), 'Final Knee Condition' Correlates More Strongly with Treatment Satisfaction than 'Amount of Improvement'

The Knee Joint Clinic (Katsujukai Medical Corporation) announced its research findings on the evaluation of treatment outcomes following biotherapy (ASC/PFC-FD™) for knee osteoarthritis at the 146th Central Japan Association of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology meeting in 2026. The presentation was delivered by Dr. Hiroto Hanai. This study focused not only on the conventional evaluation of 'how much improvement occurred' but also on 'to what extent the patient can live without being conscious of pain,' analyzing the correlation with the patient's subjective sense of treatment effectiveness.

While international standards like 'OMERACT-OARSI' are widely used to evaluate knee osteoarthritis treatment, they do not always accurately reflect a patient's own 'sense of treatment effectiveness.' Building on previous research, we focused on what states or changes lead patients to feel the treatment is effective. The study tracked 1,080 patients who underwent biotherapy at seven domestic facilities for up to six months, analyzing the relationship between various evaluation indices and the patients' subjective sense of effectiveness.

The analysis revealed that the 'final state' of the knee is more strongly associated with patient satisfaction than the 'amount of improvement.' Specifically, being in a state with less pain (KOOS-Pain index) and being largely unaware of knee issues (KOOS-QOL index) were linked to higher patient satisfaction.

Biotherapy is not a treatment that brings dramatic changes in a short period but aims for symptom improvement over time. Consequently, while patients gradually stop being conscious of the pain they felt before treatment, they may find it difficult to perceive the 'amount of improvement' itself. These results suggest that in clinical practice, it is important for medical professionals and patients to specifically review 'what symptoms were problematic before treatment' and 'how they are spending their daily lives now,' connecting the past and present to appropriately grasp the patient's sense of effectiveness and increase satisfaction.

Our clinic will continue to focus on 'Quality of Life (QOL),' such as whether patients can live without being conscious of pain and continue doing what they want to do, rather than just chasing numerical improvements. This research provides significant insights into how outcome evaluations should be conducted in the field of regenerative medicine and biotherapy, and the importance of patient-centered evaluation. Katsujukai will continue to explore indices that can appropriately evaluate patient experience and QOL, contributing to the improvement of QOL for those suffering from knee pain through more realistic treatment evaluation and medical provision.