Clinical outcomes of intra-articular platelet-rich plasma therapy for patients with osteoarthritis of the knee and the reasons that led them to seek the therapy

Abstract

 Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy has recently attracted attention as an innovative treatment strategy for osteoarthritis of the knee (knee OA) in the field of orthopedic surgery. In this study, we examined the clinical outcomes of intra-articular PRP therapy in patients with knee OA at our hospital, as well as the reasons that led the patients to seek the therapy. Improvement in the scores was observed on both the modified numeric rating scale (MNRS) and Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS), the rating scales used to evaluate the clinical outcomes after PRP therapy. The results revealed a significant improvement of the scores on both scales, and significant efficacy was observed even in patients with end-stage knee OA. The reason that led the patients to seek PRP therapy was an explanation about the treatment provided by the physician as part of the medical consultation in about a half (45.7%) of the patients, and as a result of being influenced by media advertisements for the therapy in 21.6% of the patients. Thus, the number of patients seeking the treatment after it is offered as a treatment option by the consulting physician in routine medical practice is higher than that seeking the treatment as a result of being influenced by advertisements for the procedure.