During the annual the meeting of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians', Dr. Richard Rosenthal presented his theory about the use of platelet rich plasma, or PRP, as an alternative treatment for the management of pain in patients who are no longer responding to the long-term use of corticosteroids.
Dr. Rosenthal is the founder of Nexus Pain Care in Provo, Utah, and his research contains supportive data that substantiates the use of PRP for various pain conditions. His results show that this alternative pain medication can be used for patellar tendon injury, tennis elbow or lateral epicondylitis, rotator cuff tears, with some extent of benefit also observed in other conditions such as plantar fasciitis, knee osteoarthritis, refractory diskogenic low back pain, and trochanteric bursitis. Based on these results, other physicians agree that PRP treatment is showing tremendous promise for selected groups.
Dr. Rosenthal commented on the treatment method saying that, "although more studies are needed, there appears to be enough evidence to recommend the use of PRP for the above conditions when more conservative treatments have failed."
His colleague, Dr. Ezra, President and CEO of the South Carolina Society of Interventional Pain Physicians has seen the potential of PRP therapy and is looking forward to mainstreaming the technique. "I would want to be the first person on the block to use PRP if it pans out in further studies. It would be a welcome addition to the limited nonsurgical armamentarium that we have for treating multilevel, noncontagious intradiskal pathology."
There are also others, however, who believe that the use of PRP's for pain management and certain conditions have "limited reliable clinical evidence," and that there should be more testing and research that should be conducted before doctors and patients can make full use of this alternative. According to Dr. Rajesh Kalra from the Kaiser Permanente Chronic Pain Program in Union City, CA, "although PRP may have theoretical benefits and tissue healing, the literature has shown variable results depending on the medical condition, formulation, and tissue type. Further clinical studies are necessary to establish PRP use protocols and determine the short-term and long-term benefits of its use."