PRP: Product Rich in Placebo?

The search for a minimally invasive solution to improve the status of a pathologic joint surface and allow a fast return to full activity is highly desirable. In this landscape, a novel promising injective treatment is platelet-rich plasma (PRP), a blood derivative characterized by a higher platelet concentration than that of whole blood. When activated, platelets release a group of bioactive molecules that ultimately promote cellular recruitment, growth, and morphogenesis, and modulate inflammation as well [7]. Therefore, PRP is an appealing biological approach to favour the healing of tissues, such as cartilage, otherwise doomed by a low healing potential