PRP FOUND TO BE EFFECTIVE FOR TREATING KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS Platelet rich plasma (PRP) is a natural concentrate of growth factors and chemicals called cytokines which play a crucial role in the healing process. This is a concentration of platelets containing the chemical signals that control natural healing of injured tissue in the body. In clinical settings, PRP is obtained from the patient’s blood and after concentrated is re-injected close to the injured tissue. This is a new form of treatment that has become very popular in sports medicine, particularly among professional athletes, due to its ability to produce natural healing of connective tissue without side effects, and with earlier return to regular activities as compared to traditional orthopedic treatments. PRP has also been used, alone, or in combination with stem cells, to treat the degeneration of cartilage seen in joint osteoarthritis. In our clinic, whenever we use stem cells to treat joint osteoarthritis, we always add PRP to enhance stem cell growth as well as to take advantage of its anti-inflammatory properties. In the last few years several research articles on PRP treatment for articular osteoarthritis have been published in the medical literature. But, until this year, no meta-analysis of PRP treatment for osteoarthritis had been published. A meta-analysis is a review of the literature and a compilation and combination of the data of multiple studies for pooled statistical analysis to determine if a particular treatment is effective. But, that changed with the recent publication of such a meta-analysis in the Archive of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24291594). This meta-analysis showed that PRP injections significantly improved the functional status in patients with knee osteoarthritis, maintained for one year after treatment, and with no increase in side effects. Not only did this meta analysis showed that PRP injections are an effective and safe treatment for osteoarthritis but it also showed that it is superior to treatment with hyaluronic acid (HA), a commonly used non-surgical treatment. Treatment with HA has a modest beneficial effect that usually peaks at two months and then decreases with time. PRP was more effective in those patients with early or moderate osteoarthritis as compared with patients with advanced disease. This is a significant study demonstrating the effective of a regenerative treatment, PRP injections, in treating knee osteoarthritis. This paper also suggests that treatment with PRP injections is superior to a widely used treatment, hyaluronic acid injections. It also suggests that the ideal patient for this form of treatment is one with mild to moderate degrees of osteoarthritis. Regenerative medicine treatments, like PRP injections are showing a potential to be more effective, safer, and longer lasting alternatives that could lead to better outcomes and a reduction of knee surgeries in patients with osteoarthritis. To learn more about non-surgical alternatives to joint replacement surgeries go to: dontoperate .
Posted on: Sat, 03 May 2014 17:54:32 +0000
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