Platelet rich plasma (PRP), continues to emerge as a less-invasive, safer treatment option for knee pain and knee osteoarthritis

Plasma injections, or more formally, platelet rich plasma injections, continues to grow as a part of my regenerative medicine practice, often for knee osteoarthritis.  These treatments, like other regenerative medicine treatments, rely on the body’s natural ability to heal itself with the right guidance.  I have seen many patients improve with plasma, or PRP injections.  Although these treatments have been out for many years, insurance companies have been slow to adopt them because of the limited number of well designed randomized clinical trials proving their efficacy.  Despite this, the market for regenerative medicine and platelet rich plasma grows yearly, with reports expecting over $39 billion spent on regenerative treatments by 2024, according to a recent study.

There are many sources for plasma, and choosing the right one is important based on the research we have thus far.  It can come from you, the patient, using your own plasma, or potentially from others.  Several companies in the United States are actively exploring their own formulation of growth factors with randomized clinical studies looking for FDA approval for it’s use in knee osteoarthritis..

It is exciting to see the science catching up with the treatments themselves.  More and more patients ask about plasma injections in my office each week, and it has become a part of my ‘menu’ of options for the painful, often arthritic knee.  While we don’t yet completely understand how it works, it may delay the progression of arthritis.  While we have many treatments for knee osteoarthritis, we have few that actually change the disease process besides weight loss and changes in one’s activity level.

It’s exciting to see lives improved with platelet rich plasma injections – patients sometimes go from very limited activity back to sports like tennis.

Wonder if platelet rich plasma injections are right for you?  Feel free to ask me your questions below or contact me to discuss more in detail.

Reference:

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