Platelet-rich Plasma for Regeneration and Accelerate Healing

Platelet-rich Plasma is a regenerative cell-based therapy. Concentrated PRP growth factors help induce a natural healing cascade via the administration of concentrated platelets with regenerative growth factors. 

Platelet-rich Plasma PRP is a type of regenerative medicine.  The procedure consists of taking approximately 30mL to 60mL of your blood and concentrating the platelets from it. Once they are properly separated and activated, they become platelet-rich plasma.

PRP therapy dates back to the 1970s, although few had access to treatment at that time and it was very expensive. In addition, it would require a very large amount of blood, up to 10 times more than what’s required today.

PRP therapy has been used extensively by famous athletes from all over the world.  Since its early adoption, PRP has become routine with professional athletes, since it can assist them with injury recovery and is not considered a performance enhancement procedure.

Platelet-rich Plasma is SAFE and has been studied for more than 20 years.

PRP therapy has a very low risk of negative side effects. PRP uses your own blood to concentrate growth factors, so rejection never occurs.

How does PRP work?

Everyone understands that when we injure ourselves, the body’s own natural healing process begins to take action naturally. The human body has natural healing mechanisms circulating within the blood. When injuries occur, these healing factors travel to the injury site to begin the regeneration process.

It’s known that the percentage of platelets in the blood range between 5-7% normally in healthy adults. Platelet-rich Plasma (PRP) allows us to concentrate these platelets to more than 90%, then reintroduce them locally to the area of treatment.

PRP Procedure Process

The platelet-rich plasma procedure process is usually a 30-60 minute procedure. Depending on the procedure, the physician will take 30mL or 60mL of blood from the patient, injecting a small amount of anti-clotting agent. The mixture is then placed in a specialized disposable treatment kit and placed in a harvesting machine to concentrate the platelets. This takes roughly 15-20 minutes. The result is three unique biochemical layers: 1) platelets, 2) blood, and 3) plasma.

The physician then discards the plasma-poor layer, and then a buffy-coat layer is extracted with a small number of red blood cells. At this time the PRP is activated.

Once the growth factors are activated and injected, these growth factors can last for 7-10 days. The platelets stimulate macrophages, stem cells, and other cellular activity which encourages and accelerates the healing process.  

The Most Important item with Platelet-rich Plasma PRP is generally linked to the quality of the equipment used to harvest the process of the PRP. 

Most PRP designs now include kits that aid the physician or technician in preparing the process. The quality of the system and kit used is an important element in considering treatment and the overall cost of the procedure.