The effect of platelet-rich plasma in the treatment of tendonitis and desmitis in horses: report of eight clinical cases
International Journal of Development Research
The effect of platelet-rich plasma in the treatment of tendonitis and desmitis in horses: report of eight clinical cases
Received 25th November, 2017; Received in revised form 11th December, 2017; Accepted 19th January, 2018; Published online 28th February, 2018
Copyright © 2018, Roberta Carneiro da Fontoura Pereira et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This study aimed to evaluate the clinical effect of autologous PRP, obtained by manual method with double centrifugation, and applied by intralesional ultrasound-guided injection in horses’s tendons and ligaments. Eight horses were included in this study: four horses with tendonitis and four horses with suspensory ligament desmitis. Tendinitis and desmitis were diagnosed following clinical and ultrasonographic evaluation. Three applications of PRP were performed every 15 days. Platelet count of the whole blood used for preparation of PRP from the horses with tendonitis ranged from 120.000 to 180.000/µl (144.250 ± 25.539/µl) and PRP count ranged from 406.000 to 720.000/µl (512.250 ± 144.965/µl). In horses with desmitis, the platelet count in the whole blood used for autologous PRP preparation ranged from 127.000 to 158.000/µl (140.250 ± 13.149/µl) and PRP count ranged from 513.000 to 713.000/µl (566.500 ± 97.722/µl). No correlation was found between platelet count in the PRP and the healing time of injuries. Clinical evaluation and ultrasonographic images used to monitor healing showed that intralesional PRP injections followed by a program of gradually increasing exercise resulted in horses returning to their previous athletic activities without recurrence of lesions.
