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PRP injection ineffective for treatment of patients with Achilles tendinopathy: JAMA
UK: Treatment with platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection versus sham injection offers no benefit to patients with Achilles tendinopathy, show results from a clinical trial published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Achilles tendinopathy is a disease of the Achilles tendon that can potentially cause significant pain.
According to the study, a single injection of platelet-rich plasma compared with a sham injection did not significantly reduce Achilles tendon dysfunction.
PRP is a treatment often used for a number of orthopedic conditions and popularized by its use by elite sportspeople. However, this new study has shown that it is ineffective for the treatment of Achilles tendinopathy and recommends that it is no longer used for these patients.
Achilles tendinopathy is a degenerative condition that manifests as a stiffness or pain when bearing weight on the leg. The Achilles tendon attaches the calf muscles to the heel and is important in for raising your heel off the floor when walking or running. The tendon experiences a great deal of wear and tear during daily life. Normally, the tendon goes through a cycle of wear and repair, but in Achilles tendinopathy that cycle is broken and the tendon does not repair itself as effectively. For some people, particularly if their work requires them to be on their feet or if they do a lot of walking or running, this can cause very significant discomfort or pain.
PRP is often used after other treatments have failed, such as simple pain relief, advice, activity modification and physiotherapy.
For this randomised clinical trial, the largest of its kind, the researchers recruited 240 patients with Achilles tendinopathy, split into two groups: one received PRP treatment, while the other control group received a sham injection. The participants were then asked to complete a self-assessment of their pain, function and activity after three and six months, using the Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment - Achilles score (VISA-A) - a validated tool for assessing patients with Achilles tendinopathy.
When scores from both groups were compared, the researchers found no statistical difference between the average score of each group.
Lead author of the study Professor Rebecca Kearney of Warwick Clinical Trials Unit at the University of Warwick said: "The only reason for treating tendinopathy is if the patient is experiencing pain, as the condition doesn't cause pain in all cases. What's important to patients is they want a reduction in pain, to be able to do the activities they could before. We set what was a clinically important difference and that wasn't met in the trial.
"More participants in the PRP group experienced increased pain soon after the injection, bleeding, bruising, and swelling in the area injected. These are normal things you'd associate with receiving an injection and they did get better but they show that injections into the Achilles tendon are not consequence free.
"The recommendation from this trial is that PRP should not be used to treat Achilles tendinopathy. It's not effective, it costs money and we found some evidence that it can cause harm in the short term. There's no evidence to continue using it for Achilles tendinopathy."
PRP is thought to promote tendon repair through injecting a high concentration of growth factors direct to the site of degeneration, to enhance regeneration. It is made by taking the patient's own blood, spinning it down into a high concentration in a centrifuge before injecting it directly into the area required. The expectation is that this triggers a repair process over time.
It is also used for a number of other orthopedic issues and by professional sportspeople, but despite this there is limited evidence of its effectiveness for most conditions.
Professor Kearney adds: "There's been an explosion in injection treatments for Achilles tendinopathy. There are other types of injections that are being used but there is the same problem that these have not been tested and evaluated in high quality clinical trials. This study does raise the question that if PRP doesn't work, maybe some of the other commonly used injections for Achilles tendinopathy need further evaluation.
"We can't point to one thing that causes Achilles Tendinopathy, which is why treating it becomes so difficult. That's why we see lots of different treatments, not all of which have been properly tested."
Caroline Aylott, Head of Research Delivery at Versus Arthritis, said: "Achilles tendionopathy can cause significant pain and prevent people from staying active. The results from this study suggest that platelet-rich plasma injections do not improve pain or function, and therefore shouldn't be recommended as a treatment for this condition. More research is needed to ensure we find effective treatments for people who have persistent painful Achilles tendionopathy."
Reference:
The study titled, "Effect of Platelet-Rich Plasma Injection vs Sham Injection on Tendon Dysfunction in Patients With Chronic Midportion Achilles Tendinopathy: A Randomized Clinical Trial," is published in JAMA.
DOI: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2781859
Hina Zahid Joined Medical Dialogue in 2017 with a passion to work as a Reporter. She coordinates with various national and international journals and association and covers all the stories related to Medical guidelines, Medical Journals, rare medical surgeries as well as all the updates in the medical field. Email:Â editorial@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751
Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751