Treatment of incipient hip osteoarthritis with PRP
The hip joint is often the site of osteoarthritis, that is to say degenerative wear and tear of the joint surfaces which, in the advanced stage, requires the fitting of a joint prosthesis.
When osteoarthritis is only just beginning, there is no indication yet for a prosthesis, and often physiotherapy and anti-inflammatories are prescribed. These treatments improve the situation a little, but often in an unsatisfactory way.
If you have hip osteoarthritis at this stage, PRP, platelet-rich plasma, may be a solution in cases where the hip is already painful, but the x-ray does not yet show a full narrowing of the space joint, as in the image below:
PRP: the technique consists in taking 15 ml of your own blood by a simple venipuncture, as for a usual blood test. Then, the sample is placed in a centrifuge which rotates
15,000 rpm for five minutes. This makes it possible to separate the red and white blood cells on the one hand, and the plasma containing the platelets on the other hand. Platelets contain many growth and regeneration factors which, once in contact with degenerative cartilage, will improve its structure and resistance, in other words regenerate it. We can say that the treatment “brings the brakes on osteoarthritis”: pain decreases, mobility increases somewhat. It takes three injections four weeks apart, until you feel a beneficial effect. It then lasts two to three years on average.
PRP is injected directly into the hip joint through a very fine needle introduced under ultrasound control, that is to say by ultrasound:
The whole thing, blood test and injections, takes about 20 minutes. You can continue normal activities on the day of the injection, except perhaps sports activities.