L-PRF in Osteoarthritis Treatment: Results of a Pilot study

Abstract

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common chronic musculoskeletal disorder and is the most frequent single cause of disability in older adults [1]. OA is a chronic disease progressively involving the entire joint. Progression involves capsule-bursa inflammation, synovial fluid modifications, cartilage erosions, and osteochondral inflammatory deteriorations leading to bone erosion and distortion [1]. Early OA defines the initial cascade of events that trigger the disease and lead to the full-blown OA. The disease progression can sometimes last for years being quite often neglected or mistreated with palliative medications. Joint resident MSCs has always been a target for our research into and treatment of OA [1,2,3]. Recently L-PRF (leukocyte and platelet-rich fibrin), showed promising properties in connective tissue regeneration and, for this reason, is now widely applied in chronic wound healing and jawbone growth [4,5,6]. After centrifugation, L-PRF membranes hold vital platelets, leukocytes, and various peripheral blood cells [7,8]. As a result, we exposed these membranes to a thermic shock aimed to increase the pool of HSPs. The final product was named supercharged L-PRF. Supercharged L-PRF components -membranes and hyper-acute serum- were used in knee OA patients in a small preliminary comparative study. 20 consecutive patients were randomly divided into 2 groups: 10 patients treated with supercharged L-PRF and 10 with PRP+HA (PRP+ Hyaluronic acid). The primary outcome of this study was to induce persistent pain relief and recovery of motility. This article reports supercharged L-PRF preliminary experience in degenerative OA treatment.