Use of platelet-rich plasma and platelet-derived patches to treat chronic wounds

Objective: To compare the healing results between platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and platelet-derived patches versus traditional advanced wound dressings in patients with chronic wounds. Method: Patients with and without diabetes were divided into two groups, each of which received either PRP patch treatments or the advanced wound dressings. All wounds were cleaned, debrided and assessed by physicians. The data were analysed and represented as mean +/- standard deviation (SD). Student's t-test was used to calculate the significance of differences between both groups. Values of p<0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: Patients with and without diabetes receiving PRP patch treatments saw improvement in wound healing in two weeks (p=0.0083). Patients with diabetes who received platelet-derived patch treatment and PRP injection experienced wound size reduction to <25% of the original area by the fourth week of treatment, and >90% of the subjects had wounds of <10% their original size in the last three weeks of the trial. Conversely, the wound area in the control subjects receiving traditional advanced wound dressings remained at 25-50% of their original size from the fourth week of treatment to the end of the trial. The healing process of the PRP patch experimental group was statistically significant compared with the control group (p<0.0001). Conclusion: Combining treatments of PRP injections and platelet-derived patches significantly improved the healing outcomes of patients with chronic wounds, most notably in patients with diabetes, when compared with a traditional treatment of advanced wound dressings.