We provide services nationwide at any hospital, doctor’s office, surgery center, wound care center or extended care facility.
Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) is a treatment used for some common orthopedic conditions. PRP is a concentration of platelet cells taken from your blood. These platelets have growth factors that may help in the healing process of chronic injuries. Growth factors are chemicals that signal the body to initiate a healing response. By injecting PRP into areas of an injury, the hope is to stimulate and optimize your body’s ability to heal the chronic conditions. Platelet Rich Plasma is composed of plasma with a high concentration of white blood cells and platelets containing growth factors. The white blood cells help fight infections while the platelets help clot the blood and contain the powerful growth factors needed to start the healing process. A normal platelet count is 150,000-350,000. PRP contains 3-6 times that number and sometimes more
What are growth factors?
Your platelets release healing proteins called growth factors. There are many growth factors with varying responsibilities, however, cumulatively they accelerate tissue and wound healing.
Where can PRP be used?
PRP can be used in almost any surgical specialty where tissue or bone has been injured, cut, or bruised. PRP has been used in operating rooms for several decades to help with wound healing, and to stimulate bone formation in spinal fusion surgery. Recently, PRP has been used in outpatient settings for treatment of common overuse conditions including:
- Achilles Tendonitis
- Rotator Cuff Tendonitis
- Tennis Elbow, and
- Patellar Tendonitis
How is PRP applied?
The use of PRP varies from procedure to procedure and can be applied in a variety of ways. Generally, it is sprayed on topically at the end of the procedure to control post-op oozing, to fixate small bone graft material, and to spread the concentrated growth factors under and around soft tissue and tissue grafts.
How is PRP injected?
PRP injections are given as soon as the blood has been spun and the platelets separated. Some physicians may choose to add an “activating agent,” usually either thrombin or calcium chloride, while some inject just the platelets. Studies have shown that the tendons being injected can also activate the PRP, so the activating agent may not be necessary.
There is no clear science to justify a particular quantity of PRP and number of injections needed. Most physicians perform one injection, although sometimes PRP injections are given as a series of injections over a span of several weeks.
Who makes PRP?
PRP is obtained from the patient. Blood is withdrawn from a vein in the patient’s arm and the blood is placed in a centrifuge. Most of the time the blood is drawn by a nurse or other qualified allied healthcare professional. A machine is then used to separate the different types of blood cells. The physician or allied health professional then extracts the platelet-rich portion of the blood, and injects this into the area of injury.
Who can benefit from PRP?
Anyone, from professional athletes to those who enjoy recreational activities or whose wounds are difficult to heal, can benefit from the healing effects of PRP.
Is PRP Safe?
PRP is derived from a small quantity of your own blood. Using a tabletop device, your blood is processed and prepared at or near your bedside in your doctor’s office or surgery center.
Documented Uses of Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP)
- Orthopedics/Podiatry
- Dental/Maxillo Facial/Periodontal
- Vascular
- Plastic Surgery
If You Want PRP:
PRP injections can be done in a physician’s office. The procedure takes about 30 minutes in order to withdraw the blood, spin the blood in the centrifuge, and inject the PRP into the injured area.
Risks of PRP:
Side effects are uncommon, but they are possible. Whenever a needle is inserted through the skin, infection can occur. The other more common side effect of PRP injections is an increase in inflammation and pain after the injection.
PRP injections are not recommended in individuals with bleeding disorders, those taking anti-coagulation medications (e.g. Coumadin), or those who have cancer, active infections, or are pregnant.
Bone marrow transplantation can lead to osteogenic repair of intractable bone conditions. To achieve optimal clinical results, it is necessary to transplant as many cells with osteogenetic potential as possible. However, approaches involving special equipment and reagents for the extraction and purification of cells are expensive, and the complicated procedures involved are a hindrance to widespread acceptance of bone marrow transplantation for osteogenic repair. To standardize bone marrow transplantation for bone regeneration, a simple, safe, clean, and low-cost system is required. We describe an easy-to-use method using a conventional manual blood bag centrifugation technique traditionally used for extracting buffy coats, for concentration of cells from bone marrow aspirates (BMAs) to obtain osteogenic progenitors.
Auto transfusion specifically recovers blood from intra-operative procedures. Some surgical applications involving auto transfusion are:
ORTHOPEDIC SURGERY:
- Total hip replacement
- Total knee replacement
- Laminectomy
- Harrington rod
- Open reduction internal fixation
- Spinal fusion
- Discectomy
- Femur fractures
CARDIOVASCULAR SURGERY:
- CABG
- Valve replacement
- ASD
- VSD
- Ascending thoracic aneurysms
- Descending thoracic aneurysms
- Thoracotomy
- Lobectomy
- Chest trauma
VASCULAR SURGERY:
- AAA
- Lower extremity reconstruction Major vessel resection
GENERAL:
- Liver resection
- Abdominal trauma
- Open prostatectomy
- Spleenectomy
- Abdominal perineal resection
- Hysterectomy
We offer Perfusion, Auto transfusion, PRP, BMAC, Blood Management.
Yes, we either have a 30 minute response time or can adjust it to equal the same response time as you operating room staff.
