New
Treatment Eases Knee Osteoarthritis
Thursday,
14 Feb 2013 03:42 PM
By Nick
Tate
An
experimental new treatment that uses a patient’s own blood platelets to ease
knee arthritis has been found to be effective and safe, potentially offering a
natural alternative to cortisone shots and other current therapies.
The
treatment — known as PRP, short for platelet-rich plasma — involves injecting
the liquid component of a patient’s own blood into the knee to deliver a high
concentration of growth factors to arthritic cartilage that can enhance
healing.
A study, by
researchers from the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, has shown
that PRP greatly improves pain and function in patients with knee
osteoarthritis. It also found that the treatment appeared to delay the
progression of the disease in up to 73 percent of patients.
"This
is a very positive study," said Brian Halpern, M.D., chief of the Primary
Care Sports Medicine Service at the hospital, who led the study, published
online in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine.
"You
take a person's blood, you spin it down, you concentrate the platelets, and you
inject a person's knee with their own platelets in a concentrated form,"
said Dr. Halpern. "This then activates growth factors and stem cells to
help repair the tissue, if possible, calm osteoarthritic symptoms and decrease
inflammation."
Current
treatments for osteoarthritis involve exercise, weight control, bracing,
nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories, Tylenol, cortisone shots, and
viscosupplementation, a procedure that involves injecting a gel-like substance
into the knee to supplement the natural lubricant in the joint.
But a small
number of doctors who are testing PRP in patients have found it holds great
promise.
For the new
study, researchers enrolled 15 patients with early osteoarthritis, gave each an
injection of PRP, and then monitored them for one year, evaluating overall knee
pain, stiffness, function, and the ability to perform various activities of
daily living. Physicians also evaluated the knee cartilage with magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI).
The results
showed PRP helped ease the patients’ knee pain and stiffness, while improving
function. Using a standardized pain measurement scale, researchers found
patients’ pain levels were reduced by more than 56 percent at six months and
nearly 59 percent at one year. They also showed improvements in knee function
and, for a large majority of patients, there was no additional cartilage loss
after PRP treatment.
"We
are entering into an era of biologic treatment, which is incredibly ideal,
where you can use your own cells to try to help repair your other cells, rather
than using a substance that is artificial," Dr. Halpern said. "The
downside is next to zero and the upside is huge."
Osteoarthritis,
which causes pain and joint stiffness, affects more than 27 million Americans
and is a leading cause of disability. According to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, osteoarthritis affects 14 percent of adults aged 25 and
older and nearly a third of those older than 65.
Source:
- http://www.newsmaxhealth.com/Health-News/PRP-Treatment-Knee-Osteoarthritis/2013/02/14/id/490468
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