Abstract
Following the recognition of platelet rich plasma (PRP) as an interventional procedure by NICE, patients who had failed standard conservative treatment for chronic elbow tendinitis and referred for surgery were recruited prospectively into a PRP injection study.
52 patients at Torbay Hospital, Devon, UK received PRP injections in 18 months and 37 had a minimum of 6 months follow up. The outcomes in these patients are summarised.
There were 16 males and 21 females. 30 had tennis elbow and 7 had golfers elbow. All patients had their symptoms for a minimum of 6 months and had failed to improve with standard conservative treatment. 2 had a failed outcome from previous tennis elbow release surgery. The PRP injections were carried out under ultrasound guidance after correlating the tender spot with neovascularisation on flow Doppler. 31 patients had a single injection; the other 21 patients had 2 injections. Quick DASH score and patients own self-satisfaction was used to measure outcome. 18 patients (48%) were discharged by 6 months. DASH score worsened in 7 patients (19%) and 2 of these patients opted to have surgery, which had no benefit either. No complications were observed with the use of PRP.
Overall, by using PRP injections, surgery was avoided in 35 patients (95%) at 18 months and nearly half of the patients were discharged from follow up by 6 months.
