There is lack of strong or high quality evidence
supporting the use of PRP for treating knee disorders; high quality RCTs are
required to confirm its effectiveness in managing knee disorders.
PRP is an autologous blood product in which the platelet concentrations are above the baseline values. First step of this method follows the extraction of blood from the patient. It is then centrifuged to get a concentrated suspension of platelets by plasmapheresis. It then undergoes a two-stage centrifugation process in order to separate the solid and liquid components of the anticoagulated blood. Initially the plasma and platelets are separated from the erythrocytes and leukocytes. At second stage hard spin is used to concentrate the platelets further into platelet-rich and platelet-poor plasma components. Finally obtained PRP product is injected into the knee joint space. PRP owes its therapeutic use to the growth factors released by the platelets which are claimed to possess multiple regenerative properties.
PRP has been used in the knee of the patients suffering from ligamentous meniscal injuries and articular cartilage pathology. A decent amount of evidence is available to support its use in selected indications and thus a detailed review was carried out to evaluate the most recent evidence.
The current UK National Institute of Health & Clinical Excellence (NICE) gu idelines has also been considered with respect to PRP use in knee osteoarthritis.
EFORT Open Rev. 2017 Mar 13;2(1):28-34.
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) for knee disorders
Nicola Dalbeth
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