The efficiency of platelet-rich plasma treatment in patients with knee osteoarthritis

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) treatment on pain, functionality, quality of life, and cartilage thickness in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). METHODS: Sixty patients with chronic knee pain were randomly separated into two groups. The first group was administered 4-ml PRP intra-articularly (IA) in three doses at one-week intervals, and the second group had only one dose of a 4-ml saline solution IA. The patients' pain was measured using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS); functionality was measured using the Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC). The distal femur cartilage thickness was assessed using ultrasonography (USG). RESULTS: All baseline parameters were similar (p > 0.05). In the first and sixth months after the treatment, the VAS scores of the PRP group were significantly low (p < 0.001). In the same group, only the pain sub-score was low in the WOMAC assessment in the first month after treatment. However, in the sixth month, all parameters of the WOMAC score were lower than those of the placebo group (p < 0.05). Cartilage thickness measurements were similar in the two groups (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: PRP treatment had positive effects on the pain, physical function, and quality of life of patients with knee OA, but it did not increase cartilage thickness.