Non-Invasive Imaging Modalities for Stem Cells Tracking in Osteoarthritis

PurposeThe administration of stem cells in regenerative medicine has emerged as a potential treatment option for many diseases. The privation of an impressive cure for joint pathologies such as knee osteoarthritis (OA) has increased concern in stem cell (SC)-based therapies.MethodSearching for articles published in English from 1990 to 2022 using scientific keywords in Scopus and PubMed databases included in this comparative review study.ResultMany questions remain about the survival and biology of SC after transplantation. Over time, non-invasive SC monitoring has been updated to assess the viability and biology of SC transplantation. The use of nanoparticles has become important in many aspects of SCs tracking. Given that different tracking strategies are being used for clinical trials, it is important to choose the best one.ConclusionIn this review, various imaging methods, which were assimilated to monitor the viability and biology of SC after injection in osteoarthritis, were discussed.Lay SummaryOA is a disabling disease which has different therapeutic including drugs or surgery. The aim of our study was to pool available data to obtain the most effective option for cell tracking in OA. Current progression in molecular biology and imaging has accredited winsome non-invasive SC monitoring in living subjects. Further effort should be placed on multimodal imaging techniques, which may minimize the potential venture of using any imaging technique.