Autologous growth factor injections in chronic tendinopathy
Two pages on PainSci cite Sandrey 2014: 1. Tennis Elbow Guide 2. Does Platelet-Rich Plasma Injection Work?
original abstract †Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
CONCLUSIONS: Strong evidence indicates that autologous growth factor injections do not improve plantar fasciopathy pain or function when combined with anesthetic agents or when compared with corticosteroid injections, dry needling, or exercise therapy treatments. Furthermore, limited evidence suggests that PRP injections are beneficial. Except for 2 high-quality RCT studies, the rest were methodologically flawed. Additional studies should be conducted using proper control groups, randomization, blinding, and validated disability outcome measures for pain and function. Until then, the results remain speculative because autologous whole-blood and PRP injection treatments are not standardized.
related content
- “Strong evidence against platelet-rich plasma injections for chronic lateral epicondylar tendinopathy: a systematic review,” de Vos et al, British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2014.
- “Impact of autologous blood injections in treatment of mid-portion Achilles tendinopathy: double blind randomised controlled trial,” Bell et al, British Medical Journal, 2013.
- “Platelet-rich therapies for musculoskeletal soft tissue injuries,” Moraes et al, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2014.
- “Popular Blood Therapy May Not Work,” Gina Kolata, New York Times.
- “Meta-analysis Comparing Platelet-Rich Plasma vs Hyaluronic Acid Injection in Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis,” Han et al, Pain Med, 2019.
- “The Efficacy of Platelet-Rich Plasma on Tendon and Ligament Healing: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis With Bias Assessment,” Chen et al, American Journal of Sports Medicine, 2018.
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