Platelet-Rich Plasma and Osteoarthritis of the Knee: A Literature Review

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a debilitating disease affecting people worldwide that affects weight-bearing joints, including the knee. Pharmacological options should be attempted before surgical therapy, especially for the younger population where there is a likelihood of residual symptoms and risk of revision post-surgery. There are several injection therapies available to treat symptoms and slow degenerative process. One option is platelet-rich plasma (PRP). 1. What effect does PRP have on osteoarthritic chondrocytes? 2. What are the current results on the clinical outcomes of PRP on knee OA? A search was conducted on Google Scholar and PubMed to find studies from the past five years on “knee osteoarthritis” and ”platelet-rich plasma”. Results from current findings demonstrate that PRP induces chondroprotection in vitro. Clinically, PRP improves short-term outcomes of symptomatic knee OA. Although the results look promising; unfortunately, a standardized PRP protocol has not been established and several studies are biased, thus the efficacy of PRP is still inconclusive.