The clinical efficacy of using autologous platelet rich plasma in hip arthroplasty: A retrospective comparative study

Platelet rich plasma (PRP) is a blood derivative concentrate of platelets, fibrin and growth factors obtained through withdrawal and centrifugation of autologous blood and use for its inherent hemostatic and adhesive properties to promote wound healing. Hip arthroplasty is often associated with significant perioperative complications including blood loss necessitating blood transfusions, which can lead to multiple adverse reactions, infection transmission, and longer hospital stay.

We conducted this retrospective comparative study to determine whether the use of PRP can reduce the bleeding complications in hip replacement surgeries and therefore decrease analgesic requirements and shorten the hospital stay.

Sixty patients had consecutive hip replacement surgeries. The study group (n=23) received PRP applications while the control group (n=37) were operated without PRP applications. Postoperative drop of hemoglobin, number of red blood cell (RBC) transfusions, analgesic requirements, and duration of hospital stay were recorded. There was no significant difference in the drop of hemoglobin preoperatively and postoperatively comparing study and control groups (P=0.75). There was no difference in transfusion requirements between the two groups (P=0.16) but there was trend toward less transfusion in the PRP-treated group. There were also no statistical differences in analgesic use (P=0.83) and lengths of hospitalization (P=0.68) between the two groups.

We concluded that there is no clinical efficacy in using PRP in hip replacement surgeries. We recommend a larger prospective study be conducted to determine its clinical utility as an optimization strategy to improve outcome after hip arthroplasty.