The clinical efficacy of PRP injection in Tennis elbow: Is it worth the hype?

Introduction : Lateral epicondylitis is a degenerative condition of extensor tendon origin at lateral humeral epicondyle, with peak prevalence during 5th decade. Treatment is usually non operative like rest, NSAIDs, physiotherapy, splints and surgery in case of intractable tennis elbow patients. Materials and methods: A total of 108 patients who came to our opd, diagnosed as tennis elbow clinically and treated with intra-lesional PRP, were included in our study from 2022 to 2024.The diagnosis of tennis elbow was done by clinical examination in most cases and by MRI in few cases, where there was a doubt in clinical diagnosis. VAS score(0 to 10, with 0 as no pain and 10 as extreme pain) and SANE (single assessment numeric evaluation) score (where lower scores indicate worse pain and functional disability, while high scores close to 100 indicate better function) is documented at the time of diagnosis, 3, 6, and 12 months after PRP injection. Results: A total of 108 patients were studied over 2 year period from 2022 to 2024, with patient’s age ranging from 28 to 53 years, with an average of 39 years. The average baseline VAS score was 7.8, which ranged from 6 to 9. The average SANE score pre-PRP injection was 83, with ranges from 68 to 93. The scores were again assessed at the end of 3, 6 and 12 months post injection, which were 2.1, 1.5 and 1.4 on average for VAS score and 18, 13 and 11 for SANE scores respectively, which is significant improvement. Conclusion : PRP (platelet rich plasma) injection is an effective treatment method for tennis elbow patients not responding to conservative measures with no known significant complications.