Disclosures: Melissa Lau, MD: Nothing to disclose

Objective: Determine the utility of PRP as a conservative treatment modality for knee osteoarthritis by measuring its impact on patient-reported function.

Design: Case series

Setting: Sports medicine clinic

Participants: 43 patients (53 knees) who presented to outpatient sports medicine clinic with knee pain and were given PRP injections under ultrasound guidance.

Interventions: Leukocyte-rich PRP knee injection that was prepared from a customizable PRP system and administered under ultrasound guidance.

Main Outcome Measures: International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) questionnaire 3 months post-procedure.

Results: There were 50 knees with imaging evidence of osteoarthritis; 7 of these knees had end-stage arthritis. A minimal clinically important difference (MCID) in IKDC score of at least 11.5 from baseline to 3 months post-injection was considered a clinically significant response to the treatment. 3-month post-injection data were available for 42 knees. 28 knees had a statistically significant improvement in function, with a mean increase in IKDC score of 25.9 points (standard deviation 12.1) at 3 months time. 4 of these responders had end-stage osteoarthritis. 14 knees were not responsive to our intervention: 4 knees did not meet the MCID threshold of 11.5, 4 knees required surgery, and 6 knees required repeat or other injection. 2 of these non-responders had imaging evidence of end-stage osteoarthritis. One knee with end-stage osteoarthritis was lost to follow up.

Conclusions: A single PRP injection was found to generate clinically significant improvements in function, as reflected in patients’ IKDC scores 3 months post-injection in two-thirds of our study population. We utilized leukocyte-rich PRP from a customizable PRP system that currently has no existing literature reporting clinical outcomes. Our study also found that end-stage osteoarthritic knees tended to respond favorably to a single PRP injection; this study has the potential to inform practicing clinicians of a conservative intervention that may be used prior to or in lieu of surgery for treating end-stage knee osteoarthritis.

Level of Evidence: Level IV

« Back to AAPM&R Annual Assembly 2019

PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/patient-reported-outcomes-following-prp-injection-for-knee-osteoarthritis/