Showing Some Love and Appreciation for Platelet Rich Plasma

Today I want to show some gratitude and show some love for platelet rich plasma. Full disclosure, I’ve been using platelet rich plasma since 2008, so I have like a long standing, ongoing relationship with platelet rich plasma. Number two, when I’m talking about platelet rich plasma, I tend to also combine platelet lysate, which is a derivative of platelet rich plasma as well. And I need to say some good things about this treatment modality, and show some gratitude, and show some love, because the reality is that the field of regenerative medicine is really on the verge of going through some more aggressive regulatory framework, and it’s likely that some treatments that are legitimate and useful with data are going to get clumped in with some treatments that do not have as much data or utility. One example is bone marrow aspirate concentrate may get clumped in with other stem cell products unfortunately. But really really unfortunate is also that platelet rich plasma may get clumped in. There are some signs that that may happen. And it’s unfortunate because platelet rich plasma has a lot of utility.

For example, a super high concentration of platelet rich plasma is a really good option if you have a moderate level of arthritis in a joint. A medium level of platelet rich plasma is a nice option if you have a tendon injury. You can then also create platelet lysate, which is essentially platelet rich plasma but extracting just the growth factors from the platelets and getting rid of the cell bodies. That’s a nice option for nerve-related issues. And it’s a nice option for ligamentous injuries. So platelet rich plasma has so much flexibility, and it tends to work for a lot of the musculoskeletal cases that we see, whether it’s arthritis, tendinitis, injuries, sprains, nerve-related compression issues, it’s just a really nice flexible option. And it’s one that you can really treat quite a few different joints with.

And it’s unfortunate if it doesn’t get quite the same love going for it by regulators. But at least in this moment, I have a lot of gratitude for that as a treatment modality, because I think it’s helped a lot of my patients, family members, and even myself. And I hope not only my colleagues have that same level of gratitude, but so do patients, and eventually so do the powers that be. But platelet rich plasma, you’ve been very good to me, and I have a lot of appreciation.