Study of the Platelet-Rich Plasma Injections for the Treatment of Achilles Tendinopathy after Failure of Conservative Treatment

Abstract

Achilles tendon disorders, chronic degenerative tendon disorders (tendinopathy) are a frequent pathology in the Orthopaedic ward and quite difficult to treat. The autors present the case of a number of 25 patients (18 females and 7 male), with mean age of 37.2 years,a group of young and active patients, with chronic unilateral Achilles tendinopathy (at least 6 months of symptoms) refractary to conservative treatment, including physical rest and physical theraphy. All study patients have no surgical treatment performed at the Achilles tendons, or any corticosteroids infiltrations in this region. Patients were treated with 3 PRP injections at one week interval. The patient were evaluated clinically and with the ultrasound at baseline, at 1 month and at 6 months, further results will be evaluated at 1 year and early after that. Scores used for evaluation were: Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and VISA A score. The study group that included 25 patients male and females were evaluated using the VAS score and the VISA A questionnaire referring to Achilles tendinopathy, pain symptoms and functionality. Results were assessed at 1 month and at 6 months, both scores improved significantly, and also the ultrasound imaging findings. The majority of the patients were symptoms free after the 3 step PRP local infiltrations showing stable results at 6 months, while 5 of the patients showed no clinical improvement of symptoms. The overall findings in our study show that repeated PRP injections for Achilles tendinopathy obtained good results in term of clinical symptom improvement and alo stable results in time at the 6 months evaluation. On this study group discussiond reffer mainly to the small gropup of patients, only 25, and to the short term follow up period, 6 months, with future data to be analysed at 12 months and 24 months on this study group.