Platelet-rich plasma treatments, which inject injured people with platelet-rich concentrations of their own blood, were set to be the next big thing in sports injury care, sold for the rich price of $1,000 a pop (no, insurance doesn’t cover it) and promised to work wonders with tendon tears. Now comes a study from researchers at the Hague medical center, that matched a group of PRP patients with torn Achilles’ tendons with a group of torn Achilles sufferers who were treated with a placebo (saline solution). As the New York Times reports, after six months of treatment, pain had been reduced an average of 20 points less on a 100 point scale, and two-thirds to
three-quarters had returned to their sport. But, the researchers found, there was no difference
between saline and the platelet injections.
Read an abstract of the study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Read more in the New York Times.