Abstract: Purpose: To compare the clinical and functional outcomes of single spin versus double spin platelet rich plasma (PRP) intraarticular injection treatment for patients with bilateral early osteoarthritis knee (OA).
Methods: This study was a prospective, comparative, observational, time bound, hospital-based study conducted from November 2018 to August 2019, after obtaining institutional ethical committee (IEC) approval. The study involved 32 patients affected by bilateral OA knee. The patients were treated with single spin PRP injection in one knee and double spin PRP injection in the other knee in the same patient. The knee to which single spin or double spin PRP injection was to be given was picked using a simple randomization technique. The patients were evaluated at the time of presentation before intraarticular injection and at 1, 3 and 6 months follow-up with WOMAC, VAS and Oxford Knee scores.
Results: Patients were assessed before the first injection and after the intraarticular injection with a follow-up at 1 month, 3 months and 6 months. VAS score decreased after single spin PRP, by 3.94 points (p < 0.001), WOMAC-Score decreased by 22.09 points and Oxford knee score increased by 9.1 points. After double spin PRP, VAS decreased by 4.75 points (p < 0.001), WOMAC score decreased by 31 points and Oxford knee score increased by 11.06 points.
Conclusion: From our study, we can conclude that, PRP is a safe and effective for treatment of osteoarthritis and can be easily administered in normal clinical settings. Patients undergoing double spin PRP intra-articular injection have slightly better outcomes in terms of VAS and WOMAC scores as compared to single spin PRP intra-articular injection. The outcome difference is not much higher and hence both single and double spin PRPs can be used for treatment of knee OA and selection must be based on availability.
