The March 2011 edition of The American Journal of Sports Medicine published an article that showed superior results in pain and function from PRP Platelet Rich Therapy Injection compared to a cortisone shot at 2 year follow up. The controlled blinded study is the largest of it’s kind involving 2 Dutch teaching Hospitals. Overall 100 patients with tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) were involved in the study.
More & more studies are emerging on PRP therapy. Not all will be positive do the the variablity of study design, injection technique with or without ultrasound or x-ray guidance, platelet concentration, and severity of existing injury.
Nonetheless we’ve seen this procedure come along way in the nearly 5 years since we began conducting research & treating patients with PRP. We are principal investigators in the largest US controlled & blinded clinical trial on PRP involving 12 centers to determine if PRP injections are a safe & effective treatment for tennis elbow. Enrollment has been complete for almost 2 months with 230 patients.
A recent study in Orthopedics also demonstrated efficacy in PRP treatment for golfers & tennis elbow.
Performing reserach takes lots of time & resources, however as clinicians we have a responsibility to document our work & add the the field of regenerative medicine to maximize benefits & safety to our patients. There is much skepticism in the media regarding this novel therapy & many others. What most don’t realize is that publishing a 2 year study of this magnitude requires considerable time & resources. Congrats to the authors. Our 1 year knee arthritis PRP study took years to reach publication with lack of resouces etc.
Data was released from Krakow Poland at the International Meeting on the use of Autologous Growth Factors in Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine: “State of the Art” – Krakow, Poland – 24 April 2009. The study found that patients receiving cortisone showed a 40% improvement compared to PRP 75% at 12 months. This is the first head to head study. Cortisone is well known to carry a risk of weakening & rupturing a tendon & is often discouraged.
Gosens & Sluimer from the Netherlands, just reported on a prospective, double blinded, randomized study comparing PRP to cortisone injections in the treatment of 100 patients with tennis elbow. They used a visual analog pain score (1-10) & a DASH score to measure treatment response by 24 weeks. Both groups demonstrated initial improvement. However, by 24 weeks the cortisone group had a recurrence of pain whereas the PRP group continued to have improved pain scores. 1 and 2 year follow up results will be reported in the future.