scholarly journals Intra-articular Platelet-Rich Plasma Injections for Treating Knee Pain Associated with Articular Cartilage and Degenerative Meniscal Lesions

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (15) ◽  
pp. 2484-2487
Author(s):  
Konstantin Mitev ◽  
Aleksandar Longurov

BACKGROUND: Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is an autologous concentration of platelets that contain a large number of growth factors. These growth factors play a role in the regeneration, repair, and acceleration of the biochemical process, thereby reducing the pain associated with injuries of the articular cartilage and meniscus AIM: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of the PRP method in the treatment of knee joint cartilage injuries and degenerative meniscus lesions as well as pain relief. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The process of obtaining PRP begins by taking 15 ml of blood from the patient with a special system called Arthrex Double Syringe system. The test tube is centrifuged at 4000 rpm for 5 minutes. From the separated plasma, 5-6 ml PRP is taken and prepared for application. PRP is administered intra-articularly. RESULTS: At the Jan Mitrev Clinic in Skopje in 2018, PRP procedures were performed on 126 patients, 56 (44.4%) of whom were male, and 70 (55.6%) were female. The patients were evaluated by the Tegner Lysholm Knee Scoring Scale (TLKSS) before applying 3 doses of PRP for 7 days as well as 3 and 6 months after the application of PRP. The results showed considerable improvement 3 months after the PRP application, and 6 months after the application the results remained approximately identical. CONCLUSION: The application of PRP in the field of medicine is widely applied, and it will continue to be because the understanding of PRP therapy is increasingly refined. This therapy represents a potential and latest method in short-term pain reduction, but additional studies are needed to prove its long-term effectiveness.

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (10) ◽  
pp. 2300-2307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devendra K. Chouhan ◽  
Mandeep S. Dhillon ◽  
Sandeep Patel ◽  
Tungish Bansal ◽  
Alka Bhatia ◽  
...  

Background:Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has emerged as the forerunner among disease-modifying treatment options for early osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. However, no consensus is available regarding optimum dosing schedules.Purpose:To determine whether multiple injections of PRP (3 injections) provide better short-term and long-term results than a single injection of PRP in a guinea pig model of knee OA.Study Design:Controlled laboratory study.Methods:36 Dunkin-Hartley guinea pigs (weighing ~600-800 g) were chosen for this study. The animals were assigned to group DC (disease control group), group G1 (single-PRP group), and group G2 (multiple-PRP group) containing 10, 10, and 12 animals, respectively. Another 4 animals were used for preparation of allogenic PRP. Groups G1 and G2 received 1 and 3 injections of PRP, respectively, at weekly intervals in the intervention knee while the contralateral knee was injected with normal saline. Group DC received no intervention in either knee. Half of the animals from each group (subgroups DC.3, G1.3, and G2.3) were sacrificed at 3 months, and the remaining half (subgroups DC.6, G1.6, and G2.6) were sacrificed at 6 months after intervention. Both knee joints were harvested for histological assessment of articular cartilage and synovium.Results:The mean synovial scores for groups G1 and G2 were significantly better than those for group DC at 3 months. No difference was found between groups G1 and G2 at 3 months. At 6 months, group G2 had significantly better mean synovial scores than group G1 and group DC. The mean articular cartilage scores in group G2 were significantly better than those in group DC at 3 months. However, at 6 months, no significant difference was found among any of the groups in terms of mean articular scores.Conclusion:Both single and multiple injections of PRP exert similar anti-inflammatory effects on the synovium in the short term. However, this effect is sustained in the long term only for multiple injections. Multiple injections of PRP exert a chondroprotective effect, but only in the short term. This effect is not seen with a single injection of PRP.Clinical Relevance:This study provides insight into the histological basis for the superiority of multiple injections of PRP.


2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (8) ◽  
pp. 2028-2041 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Chen ◽  
Ian A. Jones ◽  
Ryan Togashi ◽  
Caron Park ◽  
C. Thomas Vangsness

Background: Many clinical trials have investigated the use of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) to treat rotator cuff–related abnormalities. Several meta-analyses have been published, but none have focused exclusively on level 1 randomized controlled trials. Purpose: To assess the efficacy of PRP for rotator cuff–related abnormalities and evaluate how specific tendon involvement, the inclusion of leukocytes, and the use of gel/nongel formulations affect pain and functional outcomes. Study Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: The literature was screened following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines. Baseline, short-term, and long-term data were extracted for the Constant score, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) score, visual analog scale (VAS) for pain, retear rate, Simple Shoulder Test (SST), and American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) score. The 100-point modified Coleman Methodology Score (CMS) was used to assess methodological quality. Funnel plots and the Egger test were used to screen for publication bias, and sensitivity analysis was performed to evaluate the effect of potential outliers. Results: A total of 18 level 1 studies were included in this review, 17 (1116 patients) of which could be included in quantitative analysis. The mean modified CMS was 79.4 ± 10.39. The Constant scores of patients who received PRP were significantly better short term (weighted mean difference [WMD], 2.89 [95% CI, 0.89-4.90]; P < .01) and long term (WMD, 2.66 [95% CI, 1.13-4.19]; P < .01). The VAS scores were significantly improved short term (WMD, –0.45 [95% CI, –0.75 to −0.15]; P < .01). Sugaya grade IV and V retears in PRP-treated patients were significantly reduced long term (odds ratio [OR], 0.34 [95% CI, 0.20-0.57]; P < .01). In PRP-treated patients with multiple tendons torn, there were reduced odds of retears (OR, 0.28 [95% CI, 0.13-0.60]; P < .01). Patients who received leukocyte-rich PRP had significantly better Constant scores compared with the leukocyte-poor PRP group, but there was no difference in VAS scores. Patients receiving PRP gel reported higher Constant scores compared with the controls, whereas those receiving nongel PRP treatments did not, although there was no difference in VAS scores. Long-term odds of retears were decreased, regardless of leukocyte content (leukocyte-poor PRP: OR, 0.36 [95% CI, 0.16-0.82]; leukocyte-rich PRP: OR, 0.32 [95% CI, 0.16-0.65]; all P < .05) or usage of gel (nongel: OR, 0.42 [95% CI, 0.23-0.76]; gel: OR, 0.17 [95% CI, 0.05-0.51]; all P < .01). Conclusion: Long-term retear rates were significantly decreased in patients with rotator cuff–related abnormalities who received PRP. Significant improvements in PRP-treated patients were noted for multiple functional outcomes, but none reached their respective minimal clinically important differences. Overall, our results suggest that PRP may positively affect clinical outcomes, but limited data, study heterogeneity, and poor methodological quality hinder firm conclusions.


Author(s):  
Tim Spalding ◽  
Lars Peterson

♦ Articular cartilage has a poor capacity to heal by itself♦ Left alone, large areas are likely to progress into osteoarthritis♦ The goal of cartilage repair is both short term improvement in function and long term durability♦ There are several available strategies including non-surgical options, and these are formulated into an algorithm♦ Cartilage repair is an advancing field and the future lies in bioengineering and high quality comparative clinical analysis.


2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (10) ◽  
pp. 2572-2585 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Huang ◽  
Grey Giddins ◽  
Li-dong Wu

Background: Platelet-rich plasma (PRP), as a promising alternative to traditional corticosteroid (CS), is now increasingly used in the treatment of elbow epicondylitis (EE) and plantar fasciitis (PF). To date, however, the synthesis of information on the clinical efficacy of PRP versus CS is limited with divergent conclusions. Purpose: To compare the clinical efficacy of PRP and CS injections in reducing pain and improving function in EE and PF. Study Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: Online databases were searched from inception to October 2018 for prospective studies evaluating PRP versus CS injections for EE or PF. Independent reviewers undertook searches, screening, and risk-of-bias appraisals. The primary outcomes of interest were pain and function in both the short term (1-3 months) and the long term (≥6 months). Results: Twenty trials with 1268 participants were included. For EE, PRP provides a statistically and clinically meaningful long-term improvement in pain, with a very large effect size of −1.3 (95% CI, −1.9 to −0.7) when compared with CS, but the evidence level was low. For EE, there was moderate evidence that CS provides a statistically meaningful improvement in pain in the short term, with a medium effect size of 0.56 (95% CI, 0.08-1.03) as compared with PRP; this improvement might not be clinically significant. For PF, there was low evidence that PRP provides a statistically and clinically meaningful long-term improvement in function (American Orthopedic Foot & Ankle Society score), with a very large effect size of 1.94 (95% CI, 0.61-3.28). There were no significant differences between the groups in improvement in function in EE and pain and short-term function in PF, but the quality of the evidence was low. Conclusion: The use of PRP yields statistically and clinically better improvement in long-term pain than does CS in the treatment of EE. The use of PRP yields statistically and clinically better long-term functional improvement than that of CS in the treatment of PF.


1991 ◽  
Vol 113 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. C. Mow ◽  
A. Ratcliffe ◽  
M. P. Rosenwasser ◽  
J. A. Buckwalter

There is a vast clinical need for the development of an animal model to study the fundamentals of healing of injured or diseased diarthrodial joints (knee, hip, shoulder, wrist, etc). Current prosthetic replacements do not offer acceptable treatment for injuries and diseases of these joints in young active individuals. New clinical treatment modalities, based on sound biologic principles, are sought for the development of repair or healing tissues engineered to have similar biomechanical properties as normal articular cartilage. In this paper we present a brief review of this need, and propose a grafting procedure which may lead to a successful animal model for studies of long term repair of major osteochondral defects. This grafting procedure uses an autologous periosteum-bone graft or an autologous-synthetic bone replacement graft. We have applied these grafts for in vivo repair of large surgically created defects in the high weight bearing area of the distal femoral condyle of mature New Zealand white rabbits. Further, an interdisciplinary study, including histochemistry, biochemistry (composition and metabolic activities), and biomechanics (biphasic properties), was performed to assess the feasibility of our animal model to generate viable repair tissues. We found our grafting procedure produced, 8 weeks postoperatively, tissues which were very similar to those found in normal articular cartilage. However, our histological studies indicate incomplete bonding between the repair tissue and the adjacent cartilage, and lack of an appropriate superficial zone at the articular surface. These deficiencies may cause long term failure of the repair tissue. Further studies must be undertaken to enhance development of a strong bond and a collagen-rich surface zone. This may require the use of growth factors (e.g., transforming growth factors β) capable of simulating extra collagen production, or the use of serum derived tissue glue for bonding. At present, we are pursuing these studies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 1001-1018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Andriolo ◽  
Sante Alessandro Altamura ◽  
Davide Reale ◽  
Christian Candrian ◽  
Stefano Zaffagnini ◽  
...  

Background: Patellar tendinopathy is a condition characterized by anterior knee activity–related pain. It has a high incidence among athletes engaged in jumping sports and may become a chronic condition. Nonoperative management is the first choice in these patients, and several nonsurgical treatment options have been proposed. Nonetheless, clear indications on the most effective approach to address patellar tendinopathy are still lacking. Purpose: To analyze the evidence on nonoperative options to treat chronic patellar tendinopathy through a systematic review of the literature and to perform a meta-analysis to identify the most effective nonsurgical option. Study Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: The search was conducted with the PubMed and Cochrane databases on January 4, 2017. All clinical English-language reports of any level of evidence on nonsurgical treatment of patellar tendinopathy were included. The quality of each article was assessed by use of the Coleman score. A meta-analysis was performed on all articles reporting the Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment scale for patellar tendinopathy to evaluate the results of the most described treatments. Results: A total of 70 studies involving 2530 patients were included in the qualitative data synthesis. The Coleman score showed an overall poor study quality. The most described treatment groups that could be included in the meta-analysis were reported in 22 studies on eccentric exercise, extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT), and platelet-rich plasma (PRP). Single and multiple PRP injections were evaluated separately. Eccentric exercise therapies obtained the best results ( P < .05) at short-term (<6 months, mean 2.7 ± 0.7 months). However, multiple injections of PRP obtained the best results ( P < .05), followed by ESWT and eccentric exercise, at long-term follow-up (≥6 months, mean 15.1 ± 11.3 months). Conclusion: The literature documents several nonsurgical approaches for the treatment of chronic patellar tendinopathy with important limitations in terms of study quality. The available evidence showed an overall positive outcome, but some differences have been highlighted. Eccentric exercises may seem the strategy of choice in the short-term, but multiple PRP injections may offer more satisfactory results at long-term follow-up and can be therefore considered a suitable option for the treatment of patellar tendinopathy.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Na Xiang ◽  
Jie Deng ◽  
Yan Liu ◽  
Xi Yu ◽  
Biao Cheng ◽  
...  

AbstractPurposeTo assess the effect of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) as a conservative therapy on individuals with partial-thickness rotator cuff tears (PTRCs) or tendinopathy in terms of pain, and function.MethodsA systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials were conducted. Short-term (6±1 months) and long-term (≥1 year) outcomes were analysed, including the visual analogue scale (VAS), Constant-Murley score (CMS), Shoulder Pain and Disability Index (SPADI), as well as American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) score. The weighted mean difference (MD) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used.ResultsTen studies were eligible in this review, nine studies with 561 patients were included in this meta-analysis. The meta-analysis showed statistically significant differences in the decrease in short-term VAS (MD=-1.56; 95% CI -2.82 to -0.30), and increase in CMS (MD=16.48; 95% CI 12.57 to 20.40), and SPADI (MD=-18.78 95% CI -36.55 to -1.02). Nonetheless, no long-term effect was observed on pain and function, except CMS (MD=24.30). The results of mean important differences (MIDs) reached the minimal clinically important differences, except ASES. For subgroup analysis, short-term VAS scores were decreased in PRP-treated patients with double centrifugation (MD=-1.99), single injection (MD=-0.71) and post-injection rehabilitation (MD=-1.59).ConclusionPRP-treated patients with PTRCs and rotator cuff tendinopathy demonstrated improvements in pain and function, although the effect may not last for a long time. Overall, our results suggest that PRP may have positive clinical outcomes, but limited data, and study heterogeneity hinder firm conclusions.


2015 ◽  
Vol 368 ◽  
pp. 102-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis G. Woodhouse ◽  
Bruce S. Gardiner ◽  
David W. Smith

2021 ◽  
pp. 026921552110119
Author(s):  
Xiao-Na Xiang ◽  
Jie Deng ◽  
Yan Liu ◽  
Xi Yu ◽  
Biao Cheng ◽  
...  

Objective: To assess the effect of platelet-rich plasma as a conservative therapy in individuals with partial-thickness rotator cuff tears or tendinopathy on pain, and function. Data sources: Embase, MEDLINE, CENTRAL, Web of Science, CINAHL, PEDro, and the grey literature (to 31 March 2021). Methods: Randomized controlled trials in English that reported short-term (6 ± 1 months), or long-term (⩾1 year) outcomes (shoulder pain or function) were conducted. Two independent reviewers screened the literature, completed the assessment of the Cochrane’s risk of bias and extracted the data. Mean difference or standardized mean difference was used for continuous data. Heterogeneity was identified with I2 test. Results: A total of 11 studies were eligible, and nine studies ( n = 629) were included in this meta-analysis, that showed statistically significant short-term effects of platelet-rich plasma on pain relief (MD = −1.56; 95% CI −2.82 to −0.30), Constant-Murley score (MD = 16.48; 95% CI 12.57 to 20.40), and Shoulder Pain and Disability Index (MD = −18.78; 95% CI −36.55 to −1.02). Nonetheless, no long-term effect was observed on pain and function, except Constant-Murley score (MD = 24.30; 95% CI 23.27 to 25.33). The results of minimal important difference reached the minimal clinically important difference, except American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons. For subgroup analysis, differences of pain relief were statistically significant in platelet-rich plasma-treated groups with double centrifugation, single injection, and post-injection rehabilitation. Conclusion: Our results suggested platelet-rich plasma had positive effects on pain relief and functional improvement for partial-thickness rotator cuff tears and rotator cuff tendinopathy, although the effects may not last for a long time.


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