Efficacy and safety of platelet-rich plasma for acute achilles tendon injury: a meta-analysis

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of platelet-rich plasma(PRP) in acute achilles tendon injury by meta-analysis. Methods Literature on clinical randomized controlled trial of PRP in the treatment of acute achilles tendon injury from Wanfang database, CNKI, VIP database, The Chinese Biological Literature Database, The Chinese Clinical Trials Registry, PubMed, Embase, Cochrane and The US Clinical Trials Registry as of August 2023 were retrieved. The control group received conventional treatment for acute achilles tendon injury, while PRP treatment group received additional PRP treatment. The primary outcome measure was visual analogue pain scale, and the secondary outcome measures were the achilles tendon fracture score, maximum heel rise height, calf circumference and ankle range of motion. The quality of the literature was assessed using the Cochrane manual, and a meta-analysis of qualified literature was performed using RevMan 5.3 software. Results Seven articles were finally included, involving 421 patients with acute achilles tendon injury, including 212 patients in the PRP treatment group, and 209 patients in the conventional treatment group. The results of meta-analysis showed that there was no difference between the conventional treatment group and the PRP treatment group in terms of the visual analogue pain scale(SMD=-0.44, 95%CI: -0.94~0.06, P>0.05), calf circumference (MD=1.14, 95% CI: -1.56-3.84, P>0.05), ankle joint toe flexion range of motion (SMD=1.85, 95%CI: -1.38-5.09, P>0.05), ankle dorsiflexion range of motion(SMD=2.61, 95%CI: -0.95-6.17, P>0.05), achilles tendon fracture score (MD=-5.60, 95%CI: -15.36-4.16, P>0.05) and the maximum heel rise height (MD=-2.48, 95%CI: -5.30-0.33, P>0.05). And there was no difference in the incidence of adverse reactions between the two groups (X2=2. 455, P>0.05). Conclusion PRP injection for acute achilles tendon injury does not improve the biomechanical and clinical outcomes of patients, and the use of PRP does not increase the occurrence of adverse reactions.

Keywords

• acute achilles tendon injury
• platelet-rich plasma(prp)
• meta-analysis