The Role of PRP and Its Platelet Concentration in Improving WOMAC Score on Early-Stage Knee Osteoarthritis (OA) Patients

Abstract

Platelet concentration is one of the important factors in OA treatment with platelet-rich plasma (PRP). The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of PRP quality, which was determined by its platelet concentration, on Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) scores in early-stage knee OA patients. This study involved 50 patients diagnosed with early-stage knee OA (stage I to III). Twenty-five patients received PRP with moderate platelet concentration (1× to 4×), another twenty-five patients received PRP with high platelet concentration (>4× to 6×). Patients were evaluated using WOMAC questionnaire before and three months after injection with PRP. Bivariate analysis showed that there was a significant improvement of three WOMAC score subscales (pain, stiffness, and function) in both group (p<0.05) and a significant difference in the differences between WOMAC pain scores between the two groups (p<0.05), meanwhile, significant differences in the differences between WOMAC stiffness and function scores between the two groups weren’t found (p>0.05). The conclusions of this study was, PRP with moderate and high platelet concentration had been shown to improve the three WOMAC score subscales of early-stage knee OA patients, but the effect of PRP’s platelet concentration was only significant in the improvement of WOMAC pain score.