Growing evidence for the use of PRP for Wound Healing?

Non-healing chronic wounds and exposed tendons, bones and joints are very challenging to cure specially for diabetic patients. Plastic surgeons have a new weapon to enhance wound healing with the use of autologous growth factors. Recently, the process of fabrication of Platelet-rich plasma has been simplified. The goal of this literature review is to summarize the evidenced-based body of knowledge regarding the treatment of diabetic chronic wounds by Platelet-rich plasma. A PubMed and Cochrane search (1978 to 2015) was performed and all studies assessing the clinical effect of Platelet-rich plasma on the healing of diabetic chronic wounds were included. The screening retrieved 7555 articles and 12 studies were included. On 6 randomized studies included, 5 found significant benefits for the use of Platelet-rich plasma on diabetic chronic foot ulcers and the sixth randomized study did not publish a statistical analysis but found favorable outcomes. The 2 other controlled studies included found significant benefits regarding the healing rate and the 4 uncontrolled studies included showed high rates of healing with the adjunction of Platelet-rich plasma. Regarding the method of use, Platelet-rich plasma was applied on the wound as a gel twice a week (41.7% of studies) or once a week (33.3% of studies). In conclusion, 87.5% of controlled studies found a significant benefit for the adjunction of Platelet-rich plasma to treat chronic diabetic wounds. As PRP may be beneficial, we suggest using PRP on diabetic ulcers which remain unhealed after standard treatment. This