843 - Platelet Concentration in Platelet-Rich Plasma Injection for Patellar Tendinopathy Pain: A Systematic Review and Pooled Analysis

Thursday, February 22, 2024

5:00 PM – 6:30 PM EDT

Presenting Author(s)

SM

Sweta Mukhopadhyay, BA

Medical Student
Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine
Voorhees, New Jersey, United States

Co-Author(s)

TI

Tanya Israel, BS

Medical Student
Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine
Blackwood, New Jersey, United States
MD

Musa Dolley, BS

Medical Student
Rowan Virtua SOM
Stratford, New Jersey, United States
BG

Brandon Goodwin, n/a (he/him/his)

Medical Student (OMS-IV)
Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine
Stratford, New Jersey, United States
Nicholas J. Averell, BS

Medical Student
Rowan Virtua SOM
WILLIAMSTOWN, New Jersey, United States
AR

Altamash Raja, DO

Associate Program Director-PM&R, Inspira Health Network
Rowan Virtua SOM
Stratford, New Jersey, United States

Objectives: Patellar Tendinopathy is a common source of knee pain attributed to overuse. Platelet-rich plasma injections (PRP) have shown to be effective at reducing pain in patients afflicted by this injury. The objective of this systematic review is to elucidate the impact of platelet concentration in PRP injections on pain level in patients with patellar tendinopathy.

Design: A systematic review of PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Embase, and Cochrane, was conducted to evaluate the impact of platelet concentration in platelet-rich plasma injections for pain improvement in patellar tendinopathy. Outcomes assessing pain include Visual Analogue Pain scale and Numeric Pain Score. Studies with primary data on single injection PRP as an intervention for patellar tendinopathy were included.

Results: Initial database query produced 354 studies. After duplicate removal, 251 remained and were appraised for title and abstract. Subsequently, 50 studies remained for full-text appraisal, of which 5 remained for final inclusion.

Pooled analysis and subgroup analysis of 5 studies evaluated pre-intervention pain level and post-intervention follow-up, ranging from 18 months to end-of-study. Low platelet concentration, with effect size of Cohen’s d=1.955 (95% CI 0.65-3.3; p=0.003), was shown to be moderately more favorable than high platelet concentration, with effect size of Cohen’s d=0.770 (95% CI -0.71-2.2; p=0.308).

Conclusions: Pooled analysis and sub-group analysis showed that low platelet concentrations had moderately better outcomes in pain reduction when compared to high platelet concentrations. Limitations include a wide range of time for follow up and small sample study size. The result of this systematic review highlights the lack of standardization in PRP protocol and the need for further research into PRP concentration components to yield more consistent pain outcomes.