COPENHAGEN — According to a presentation here, an
injection of
platelet-rich plasma resulted in better foot and ankle scores
than
cortisone in patients with severe chronic
plantar fasciitis.
“I decided to apply the use of platelets and
platelet-rich plasma (PRP) technology in this type of refractory case,”
Raymond R. Monto, MD, said at the
12th EFORT Congress 2011. “How does it work? We are
probably seeing modulation at least of angiogenesis of collagen turnover and
some tissue healing.”
In his level 2 study, Monto block randomized 40 patients
with chronic plantar fasciitis to receive either a 40 mg cortisone injection or
a PRP injection at the site of injury. The injections were guided by
ultrasound.
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Raymond R.
Monto
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The mean American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society
(AOFAS) scores of in the cortisone group increased from 52 points pre-injection
to 81 points at 3-months post-treatment. However, Monto found that the score
dropped to 74 points after 6 months. The pre-injection AOFAS score of the PRP
group increased from 37 points to 95 points at 3 months.
“I think the interesting finding here is that they
maintained those high levels of results,” Monto said, adding that no
patients were lost to follow-up or experienced complications.
“In this well-documented subset, PRP is
significantly more effective than cortisone both in short- and long-term
management for severe chronic plantar fasciitis,” he said.
Reference:
- Monto RR. Platelet rich plasma is more effective than cortisone
injection for chronic plantar fasciitis. Paper #652. Presented at the 12th
EFORT Congress 2011. June 1-4. Copenhagen.
- Disclosure: Monto is on the speakers’ bureau for
Exactech.
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