Convened under the auspicious of esteemed endorsers - ISTA

Poster: 28PRP or Steroids in Lateral Epicondylitis? RCT With Two Year Follow Up.*Taco Gosens - St. Elisabeth Hospital Tilburg - Tilburg, Netherlands*Email: t.gosens@elisabeth.nlContext: Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) has shown to be a general stimulation for repair.Objectives: To determine the effectiveness of PRP compared with corticosteroid injectionsin patients with chronic lateral epicondylitis.Design: A double blind randomized controlled trial with a two-year follow-up betweenMay 2006 and January 2008.Setting: The trial was conducted in two teaching hospitals in The Netherlands.Patients: 100 patients with chronic lateral epicondylitis were randomly assigned in thePRP group (n=51) or in the corticosteroid group (n=49). Randomization and allocation tothe trial group were carried out by a central computer system.Intervention: Patients were randomized to receive either a corticosteroid injection or anautologous platelet concentrate injection through a peppering needling technique.Main Outcome Measures: The primary analysis included VAS and DASH scores.Results: Successful treatment was defined as more than a 25% reduction in VAS orDASH score without a reintervention after 2 years. The results resembled the results after1 year follow up (published in AJSM 2010) but the 51 % success in the corticosteroidgroup dropped to 25% and the 73 % success in the PRP group increased to 85%. Thesefigures were significantly different from each other and from baseline measurements(p