Surgery of subacromial syndrome with application of plasma rich in growth factors

BACKGROUND: Our objective was to evaluate clinical recovery of patients with subacromial syndrome, after administering them plasma rich in growth factors (PRGF) by means of the Constant, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and Dissabilities of Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) tests. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Prospective cohort study involving two groups — group A, treated with PRGF (52 patients); and group B, without PRGF treatment (79 patients). We analyzed the clinical situation preoperatively (time 1), at 1 month (time 2) and after rehabilitation (time 3). RESULTS: We considered 131 patients (71.2% were men, with median age of 53.7 years). Different approaches were used — traditional (62.5%), mini-open (22.5%) and arthroscopic (15%), without significant differences (P= .71). We observed improvement in the Constant test results at time 2 (59.8 ± 11.5 points in group A vs. 13.2 ± 7.1 points in group B; P < .05) and at time 3 (79.3 ± 11.6 points in group A vs. 59.7 ± 20.1 points in group B; P ¼ .05). We found improvement in the UCLA test results at time 2 (23.2 ± 5.8 points in group A vs. 4.72 ± 1.1 points in group B; P < .05) and at time 3 (32.1 ± 5.3 points in group A vs. 22.1 ± 7.35 points in group B; P < .05). We also observed improvement in the DASH test results at time 2 (45.2 ± 17.2 points in group A vs. 118.3 ± 7.6 points in group B, P < .05) and at time 3 (37.3 ± 12.6 points in group A vs. 69 ± 25.7 points in group B). Time of rehabilitation reduced significantly: 2.53 months in group A vs. 4.96 months in group B (P < .05). No significant differences were observed in surgical times: 88 minutes (group A) vs. 97 minutes (group B). CONCLUSION: In our experience, PRGF should be indicated in subacromial syndrome and cuff involvement, as shown by the improvement in our results in terms of better results of tests, reduction in rehabilitation time and no increase in operation time.