[Platelet-rich plasma for treating acute wounds: a meta-analysis]

To evaluate the efficacy of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) in the treatment of acute wounds.

Randomized controlled trials (RCT) were identified from PubMed (1950.1-2014.2), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL, issue 4, 2014) of Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI, 1979.1-2014.2), China Biology Medicine (CBM, 1978.1-2014.2) WANFANG database (1990.1-2014.2). References of retrieved articles were also identified. The quality of each RCT was evaluated by the Cochrane collaboration's tool for assessing the risk of bias. Data analysis was performed with Review Manager 5.1 to evaluate the efficacy of PRP in the treatment of acute wounds.

A total of 13 articles involving 982 patients were included. The results of systematic review and analysis showed that wound healing time of PRP treatment group was shorter than that of control group, so did length of hospital stay (mean difference (MD): -1.45, 95% CI:-2.07 to -0.83; P < 0.01), the incidence of wound healing disturbance in PRP treatment group was less than that of control group (relative risk (RR): 0.11, 95% CI: 0.01 to 0.83; P < 0.05), so did blood product transfusion. Moreover, post-traumatic pain level of PRP treatment group was lower than that of control group (MD: -1.26, 95% CI: -1.71 to -0.82; P < 0.01).

Use of PRP can shorten acute wound healing time and length of hospital stay, reduce the incidence of disturbed wound healing and blood products transfusion and alleviate post-traumatic pain. Moreover, it has some effect on the control of wound infections.