Retrospective Analysis of Responders and Impaired Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis Treated with Two Consecutive Injections of Very Pure Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP).

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:

To assess the effectiveness of two consecutive intraarticular injections of PRP to treat knee osteoarthritis (KOA), discriminating between responders and impaired patients.

METHODS:

This retrospective study included 73 consecutive patients who were referred for two intra-articular PRP injections (one week apart) for treating symptomatic moderate/severe KOA. Biological characterization of the PRP, including platelets, leukocytes and erythrocytes, was evaluated. Patient's subjective symptoms were recorded before the treatment and 1 year after the second injection using pain VAS and WOMAC scores. Responders were defined by an improvement of 10 points on WOMAC.

RESULTS:

At a 1-year follow up, we found 36 (49.3%) patients who fulfilled the criteria of responders, and 21 (28.8%) patients were impaired. A statistically and clinically significant global improvement of -29.2 ± 14.3 (p < 0.001) points in WOMAC score was observed 1 year after treatment in the responder group, with a higher response rate in patients with KL 2 (57.7%) compared to KL IV (28.6%). The percentage of patients with KL IV was higher in the impaired group (48.0%) compared to the responders (16.6%). As expected, the evaluation of the functionality of the knee in the impaired group indicates that it significantly worsened after one year from treatment (p = 0.027). However, the average pain score remained stable with no significant differences after 1 year (p = 0.843). No clinical complications or severe adverse events after the PRP injections were reported.

CONCLUSION:

The present study suggests that two intra-articular injections of 10 mL of very pure PRP provide pain and functional improvement in symptomatic KOA.

• Authors: Alain Silvestre, Pierre-Francois Lintingre, Lionel Pesquer, Philippe Meyer, Marie-Hélène Moreau-Durieux, Benjamin Dallaudiére
• Journal: Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) (Bioengineering (Basel)) Vol. 10 Issue 8 (Aug 03 2023) ISSN: 2306-5354 [Print] Switzerland
• PMID: 37627807 (Publication Type: Journal Article)