Blood injections relieve the pain in tennis elbow
Source: Agencies |
August 18, 2011, Thursday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
BLOOD injections, especially of platelet-rich blood, into the affected area can help relieve the pain associated with tennis elbow where other treatments have failed, according to a Greek study.
Autologous blood injections, in which the patient's own blood is injected into a specific area of the body, is already used to help harness the healing power of blood to treat the degeneration of tendons.
Platelet-rich plasma is blood that has been spun in a certrifuge to separate the blood cells.
Christos Thanasas of Henry Dunant Hospital, Athens, who led the study, said: "There is now a solution for patients suffering from unrelenting tennis elbow.
"Whole blood treatment is a good alternative in remote areas or in health systems that do not financially support the use of PRP," he said.
Thanasas and his colleagues compared the effectiveness of single local injections of PRP under ultrasound guidance with autologous blood injections in 28 patients with tennis elbow, also known as lateral elbow epicondylitis.
Six weeks after the injections -patients said pain levels receded by a mean 3.8 points, or 61.47 percent, in those who had the PRP injections.
Those having the autologous blood treatment recorded an improvement of a 2.5 points, or 41.6 percent.
Both groups experienced more improvement at three and six months after the injections, with no significant difference in pain scores.
Thanasas said: "PRP is probably the best treatment for chronic refractory lateral epicondylitis if it is used after classical types of treatment like rest, braces, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, cortisone injections or physiotherapy have all failed."
The last resort remains surgery.
Thanasas added that further studies are needed to see how and when the PRP therapy is most effective, adding that he and his colleagues are about to start trials of PRP therapy in which different concentrations of white blood cells are used to see how this affects the regeneration of tendons.
Autologous blood injections, in which the patient's own blood is injected into a specific area of the body, is already used to help harness the healing power of blood to treat the degeneration of tendons.
Platelet-rich plasma is blood that has been spun in a certrifuge to separate the blood cells.
Christos Thanasas of Henry Dunant Hospital, Athens, who led the study, said: "There is now a solution for patients suffering from unrelenting tennis elbow.
"Whole blood treatment is a good alternative in remote areas or in health systems that do not financially support the use of PRP," he said.
Thanasas and his colleagues compared the effectiveness of single local injections of PRP under ultrasound guidance with autologous blood injections in 28 patients with tennis elbow, also known as lateral elbow epicondylitis.
Six weeks after the injections -patients said pain levels receded by a mean 3.8 points, or 61.47 percent, in those who had the PRP injections.
Those having the autologous blood treatment recorded an improvement of a 2.5 points, or 41.6 percent.
Both groups experienced more improvement at three and six months after the injections, with no significant difference in pain scores.
Thanasas said: "PRP is probably the best treatment for chronic refractory lateral epicondylitis if it is used after classical types of treatment like rest, braces, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, cortisone injections or physiotherapy have all failed."
The last resort remains surgery.
Thanasas added that further studies are needed to see how and when the PRP therapy is most effective, adding that he and his colleagues are about to start trials of PRP therapy in which different concentrations of white blood cells are used to see how this affects the regeneration of tendons.
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