One-year follow-up of platelet-rich plasma to treat chronic upper patellar tendinopathies

Introduction: Infiltration of PRP may be used as a recent therapeutic option for chronic tendinopathies The aim of the current study is to evaluate the clinic and the return to sports activities in patients with chronic upper patellar tendinopathies 1 year after 1 infiltration of PRP.

Material and methods: The follow-up of 20 subjects who beneficed from 1 infiltration of PRP was made before infiltration, after 3 months and 1 year after infiltration; it was made as follow: VAS, IKDC and VISA-P scores. Moreover, they had to answer an information questionnaire concerning their life and sports activities.

Results: Seventy percents of patients reported a favourable evolution with decrease of pain, 10% did never report any improvement and 20% were treated surgically. Eighty-seven percents returned to sports activities without any pain, and 50% of them recovered the same sport level. VAS has significantly (p<0.0001) dropped, IKDC significantly improved (p=0.0007) and VISA-P also significantly increased (p=0.0087) over the follow-up of 1 year.

Discussion: This study confirms that a local injection of PRP coupled with a program of eccentric rehabilitation through a chronic Jumper's knee, improves painful symptoms and the functionality of the subjects’ knee up to a follow-up of 1 year.