Objective: Clinical follow-up of implant survival in 11 patients comparing two different methods for mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) isolation (Ficoll and bone marrow aspirate concentrate [BMAC]) applied in maxillary sinus augmentation.
Methods: Mononuclear cells, including MSCs, were concentrated with either Ficoll (control group, n=6 sinus) or BMAC (test group, n=12 sinus) and transplanted in combination with bovine bone mineral. A total of 50 implants were placed in a second surgical intervention (17 Ficoll/33 BMAC) and loaded after 4 months. Overall implant survival was assessed with a Kaplan-Meier model using package survival under R.
Results: Implant survival of the Ficoll group was 100% compared with the BMAC group, which had 93.4% survival (95% confidence interval, 0.849-1). The difference between the groups was not significant (p=0.381).
Conclusion: The BMAC system is an effective and suitable "chair-side" method for clinical application in hard tissue regeneration.
Keywords: biomaterials; cell culture; tissue engineering.