published at MedPage Today... http://ow.ly/1nBpu
Clinicians are trying to determine where platelet-rich plasma (PRP) fits into the armamentarium of treatments for orthopedic injuries.
PRP is created by taking an individual's whole blood, putting it into a centrifuge, concentrating the platelets, and injecting the platelet-rich mixture into a site of injury. While normal whole blood has about 200,000 platelets per microliter, PRP has about 2,000,000.
PRP is rich in cytokines and other growth factors, but studies have yielded mixed results regarding its effectiveness in repairing various types of injuries, including tendinitis, muscle strains, ligament sprains, and fractures.
The FDA has approved the treatment as a device, but its use is still considered investigational. So orthopedic surgeons are still trying to figure out where PRP will fit into clinical practice -- if at all.
Pros
A Dutch study presented here at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons meeting showed that injecting PRP into the elbows of patients with chronic lateral epicondylitis significantly improved pain, function, and disability through one year, compared with a corticosteroid injection.
In the rando...
