The effectiveness of viscosupplementation or platelet-rich plasma (PRP), compared to standard care, for pain relief after knee arthroscopic debridement in patients with meniscal pathology and osteoarthritis

Benefits of different postoperative treatments in patients undergoing knee arthroscopic debridement.

Article specifications

This pilot study was published in 2017 in Journal of Open Access Rheumatol. (IF 2017: 0.21) by Spain and Chinese specialists. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of viscosupplementation or platelet-rich plasma (PRP), compared to standard care, for pain relief after knee arthroscopic debridement in patients with meniscal pathology and osteoarthritis (OA), under normal clinical practice conditions.  After arthroscopy, patients were randomized to receive 1) five injections of HA1 (Suprahyal®/Adant®); 2) four injections of HA2 (Orthovisc®); 3) three injections of HA3 (Synvisc®); 4) a single injection of PRP (GPS™ II); or 5) standard care (control). Patients were followed up for 18 months.

 

Result

Viscosupplementation following arthroscopy is more effective than PRP in adequately selected patients with meniscal lesions occurring concomitantly with OA. Further controlled studies with a larger sample size and/or alternative regimens would be of interest for the scientific community.