Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Are injections good for arthritis?

Injectable Biological Treatments for Osteoarthritis of the Knee

These authors reviewed the highly controversial topic of injectable biologic treatments for arthritis. 

Here are their conclusions:
 (1) platelet-rich plasma may provide symptomatic relief on a short-term basis, but long-term data are lacking on the effectiveness of PRP in changing the course of arthritis.

(2) stem cell therapy may provide symptomatic relief on a short-term basis, however it is unclear how to direct these cells to form useful new cartilage in an arthritic joint. 

See related post: Is there such a thing as injection arthropathy? which includes theAAOS recommendations on the use of injections.