PRP may present a long-term efficacy in alleviating pain among plantar fasciopathy (PF) patients, findings of a meta-analysis done by investigators of the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou.

The analysis assessed the efficiency of autologous blood-derived products (ABPs), comprising platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and whole blood (WB) in decreasing pain and recovering function than Corticosteroids (CS) among PF patients. A total of four quasi-experimental studies and twelve randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were examined systematically. American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) hindfoot score and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) pain score were assessed 1.5, 3, and 6 months’ follow-up. Subgroup analyses were conducted with regards to PRP preparation methods, study designs and injection regiments. At 1.5 and three months, the CS known to showed more pain reduction than  WB. However, this impact of CS was going away after the six months, and PRP showed a satisfactory decrease in pain. Although, no significant variation was noticed in the AOFAS score between CS and PRP injections at any time point.

During the subgroup analysis, the self-prepared PRP, one-step separation PRP, PRP of more than 3 ml, and PRP without local analgesics showed a considerable decrease in pain at six months postoperatively.