Platelet-rich plasma therapy may reduce pain, improve knee function

Filardo G. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc. Published online: August 26, 2010.

Italian investigators found that treatment with platelet-rich plasma therapy reduces pain and improves knee function and quality of life in patients with degenerative cartilage lesions and osteoarthritis.

“Further studies are needed to confirm these results and understand the mechanism of action, and to find other application modalities, with different platelet and GF (growth factor) concentrations and injection timing, which provide better and more durable results,” wrote Giuseppe Filardo, MD, and colleagues at the Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute.

In the analysis of their previous 12-month follow-up study, the investigators obtained encouraging results using platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy to treat patients with knee degeneration. With this current study, the investigators studied whether the beneficial effects observed in their first study would persist.

The investigators evaluated 91 patients in the previous study; 90 were available for 2-year follow-up. All patients had a chronic knee degenerative condition, and all were treated with three intra-articular PRP injections. Filardo and colleagues used IKDC and the European Quality of Life Visual Analog Scale for clinical evaluation, and they recorded complications, adverse events and patient satisfaction.

At 2 years, all of the evaluated parameters worsened, and they were at significantly lower levels compared with the 12-month analysis. The IKDC objective evaluation dropped from 67% to 59% for normal and nearly normal knees. Although they remained higher than the baseline level, the IKDC subjective scores decreased from 60% to 51%. Younger patients had significantly better results and lower degrees of cartilage degeneration. The median duration of clinical improvement was 9 months.