Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is a product derived from the patient’s own blood. It is obtained from the extraction of a small blood sample from the patient, which is then centrifuged to separate:
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red blood cells
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The whites
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platelets
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the plasma.
Platelet-rich plasma is the fraction of blood that, once centrifuged, contains all the platelet factors that activate the tissue repair cascade.
Well, this blood derivative has many properties, such as anti-inflammatory and tissue regeneration effects. For this reason, they constitute an important tool in various medical fields such as aesthetic medicine, or in traumatology, specifically in knee injuries.
Applications of platelet-rich plasma in knee injuries
Knee injuries are one of the most common in sports practice, especially running or skiing. In fact, according to 17% of sports injuries are knee injuries.
For its treatment, platelet-rich plasma is essential since it allows a faster recovery and reduces pain derived from the injury.
As the Dr. Agustin Garabito.
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“For soft tissue injuries, such as tendons and ligaments, PRP has shown its efficacy in shortening the injury recovery period, decreasing pain, and increasing the regenerative capacity of tendons and muscles,”
Regarding the application of biological therapies in these lesions, Dr. Garabito explains that, to obtain better results, combining platelet-rich plasma with surgical reconstruction techniques It’s fundamental.
In this way, the PRP is infiltrated intraoperatively when the graft is placed to favor the integration of the ligament that is placed with the patient’s own bone.
Subsequently, and to enhance the effects of the surgery and offer better results, the PRP is continued inside the joint.
Biological therapy for meniscus sutures
One of the most common knee injuries among fans of sports such as football or basketball is a torn meniscus. However, thanks to advances in surgical techniques and implants, it has become easier to suture the menisci in a simple way.
Dr. Garabito also explains that before surgery removed part of the torn meniscus and now attempts are made to preserve it, especially in young patients.
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“Thanks to the platelet-rich plasma that can be inserted during surgery and in the following weeks, the suture has a lower failure rate, greater regeneration capacity, and safer recovery,”
Use in degenerative pathologies
But platelet-rich plasma is not only useful for the work of traumatologists in the treatment of sports injuries, but it is also used in patients with knee wear or who suffer from a degenerative pathology such as .
In these cases, its application aims to avoid or, in any case, delay these patients undergoing surgery.
As Dr. Agustín Garabito explains, in cases of degenerative pathologies “these treatments are fundamental since, through these injections of platelet-rich plasma, we are able to repair or slow down the degeneration of cartilage and osteoarthritis, in order to delay the need for perform surgery and put a prosthesis”.