Efficacy of autologous platelet – rich plasma (PRP) in chronic wound treatment

Abstract

Introduction: Chronic woundsare a global economic burden that have increased the morbidity and mortalityin patients. Chronic wounds present for an extended period of time are more difficult to heal. Nowadays, the application of biotechnology in treatment of chronic wound is a popular trend. We conducted this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of autologous Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) in chronic wound treatment

Patients and methods: A pilot descriptive longitudinal study was conducted at the Wound Healing Center of the National Burn Hospital from November, 2021 to December, 2022. Thirty patients with 30 chronic wounds were enrolled in the study and injected the autologous PRP into the peri-wound area and wound bed every 5÷7 days. We observed and assessed progress of wound bed and wound size at the time of autologous PRP injection and at the first, second and third week of follow-up.

Results: All the patients showed healing of the wound where 40-50% of reduction in wound size was observed in 17 (56.67%) patients, followed by 50-60% reduction in wound size in 2 (6.66%) patients over the 4 weeks follow-up post-PRP application. The proportion of wounds with epithelialization at the wound edge and granulation tissue increased significantly compared to before autologous PRP application (63.33% of wounds at week 2 and 76.67% at week 3 had epithelialization, 60% of wounds at week 2 and 76.67% at week 3 had granulation tissue). The wound sizes were significantly reduced in the second and third weeks compared to before treatment (week 2: 38.4 ± 25.7 cm2 , p<0.05; week 3: 27.1 ± 13.6cm2 p<0.001). Conclusion: The local autologous PRP therapy had a beneficial effect on wound healing of the chronic wound.

Keywords: Chronic wound, Autologous platelet rich plasma, Granulation, Epithelialization

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