Tennis elbow treatment with platelet rich plasma: A prospective study

Abstract

Introduction: Tennis elbow treatment is still remains a difficult task; the use of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is a proactive therapeutic option that jump starts the healing process, which contains several different growth factors and other cytokines that stimulate healing of bone and soft tissue. Materials and Methods: This is a prospective study of 50 patients, done at GEMS and hospital, Srikakulam, India, for 2 years. The primary analysis included visual analog scale pain scale, for measuring pain in patients, local tenderness, pain on extension of the wrist, grip strength, elbow swelling were clinically assessed at different interval of follow-up, clinical and functional outcome were evaluated at final follow-up with statistics. Results: Results were calculated based on descriptive statistics with SPSS version 19. The average follow-up was 1.5 years. Results were excellent in 40, good in 6, fair in 1 and poor in 3. In two cases, there was superficial infection seen; in one nerve palsy; in three subjects pain worsened; and ended up in surgical intervention. Conclusion: Treatment with PRP holds promising results with minimal risk for the treatment of Tennis elbow. A more scientific evidence studies need to done before we can determine whether PRP therapy is effective in other conditions. PRP therapy as a viable procedure that may decrease the progression of more injuries may decrease the overall time for healing, and therefore, may setback the overall need for surgical intervention.