Platelet-Rich Plasma Injection for Symptomatic Knee Osteoarthritis

Background: Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is plasma of enriched platelets with high concentration of platelet granules and growth factors. The platelet growth factors have a great potential of wound and connective tissue healing used to treat cartilage lesions and retarding the progression of knee osteoarthritis. Objectives: This study was designed to evaluate PRP injection results in knee osteoarthritis. Patients and Methods: This was a case-series study of 39 patients and all of them had three injections of PRP for the involved knee (every two weeks) and they were followed up at two weeks, two months and six months post-injection of PRP. All included patients filled the WOMAC (western Ontario and Mcmaster universities arthritis index) standardized and translated to our national language and culture. We analyzed the collected scores of before initiation of PRP injections, the second week, the second month and the sixth month after injections into the knees. Results: Thirty-nine patients with a mean age of 55.24 ± 9.27 years (ranged 40 to 83) were evaluated in this study. Six patients (15.4%) were male and 33 patients (84.6%) female. There were significant differences in WOMAC score of patients in two months and six months after injection of PRP compared to before injection. Conclusions: PRP had a great clinical improvement in short-term follow-up for early stages of knee osteoarthritis.