Two cases of contact athletes with anterior cruciate ligament injuries who returned to competition early after conservative treatment with PRP therapy

INTRODUCTION: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in high-impact contact sports athletes are often treated through surgery. Recently, conservative treatment of ACL injuries in athletes using autologous biotherapy such as platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has been reported. We report two cases of aggressive conservative treatment with PRP therapy for contact athletes. PRESENTATION OF CASE: Case 1. A 23-year-old male rugby player with a preinjury Tegner score of 9 underwent three PRP treatments following an ACL injury and returned to preinjury levels of play 4 months postinjury. The pivot shift test had improved to grade 0 at the last follow-up. Case 2. A 34-year-old male mixed martial arts fighter with a preinjury Tegner score of 9 underwent five PRP treatments following an ACL injury and returned to his preinjury play level 3.5 months postinjury. Both contact athletes returned to competition early and continued to compete without losing stability at the final follow-up. Moreover, their functional score exceeded the median score for athletes after ACL reconstruction, suggesting satisfactory performance. DISCUSSION: Antiinflammatory cytokines and growth factors in PRP may promote graft maturation and alter the natural history of remodeling, resulting in earlier and firmer graft maturation, improving both the duration and quality of the healing process. CONCLUSION: Two high-impact sports athletes with ACL injuries were treated with aggressive conservative therapy using PRP and returned early to their preinjury play level.