Protocol for treating lumbar spinal canal stenosis with a combination of ultrapurified, allogenic bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells and in situ-forming gel: a multicentre, prospective, double-blind randomised controlled trial

INTRODUCTION: In patients with combined lumbar spinal canal stenosis (LSCS), a herniated intervertebral disc (IVD) that compresses the dura mater and nerve roots is surgically treated with discectomy after laminoplasty. However, defects in the IVD after discectomy may lead to inadequate tissue healing and predispose patients to the development of IVD degeneration. Ultrapurified stem cells (rapidly expanding clones (RECs)), combined with an in situ-forming bioresorbable gel (dMD-001), have been developed to fill IVD defects and prevent IVD degeneration after discectomy. We aim to investigate the safety and efficacy of a new treatment method in which a combination of REC and dMD-001 is implanted into the IVD of patients with combined LSCS. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a multicentre, prospective, double-blind randomised controlled trial. Forty-five participants aged 20–75 years diagnosed with combined LSCS will be assessed for eligibility. After performing laminoplasty and discectomy, participants will be randomised 1:1:1 into the combination of REC and dMD-001 (REC-dMD-001) group, the dMD-001 group or the laminoplasty and discectomy alone (control) group. The primary outcomes of the trial will be the safety and effectiveness of the procedure. The effectiveness will be assessed using visual analogue scale scores of back pain and leg pain as well as MRI-based estimations of morphological and compositional quality of the IVD tissue. Secondary outcomes will include self-assessed clinical scores and other MRI-based estimations of compositional quality of the IVD tissue. All evaluations will be performed at baseline and at 1, 4, 12, 24 and 48 weeks after surgery. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study was approved by the ethics committees of the institutions involved. We plan to conduct dissemination of the outcome data by presenting our data at national and international conferences, as well as through formal publication in a peer-reviewed journal. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: jRCT2013210076.