Effectiveness of ultrasound guided intra-articular injection of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) in comparison with methylprednisolone acetate in reducing pain and improving function in hip osteoarthritis: A randomized controlled trial

Osteoarthritis (OA) of hip is a chronic disease with loss of articular cartilage resulting in pain, stiffness and dysfunction of joint affecting day to day activities. It is the 2nd largest joint that is commonly affected by OA. The prevalence of hip OA increases with age and weight. Various treatment modalities of hip OA includes lifestyle modification, exercise, physical therapy, pharmacological treatment such as NSAIDs, intra-articular injection and surgery in advance conditions. Intra-articular steroid injection in hip is commonly practiced. But these treatments are not very effective in preventing the destructive process nor in facilitating reconstruction. Therefore, one of the recent interventions that has gained popularity towards biological treatment is platelet-rich plasma in hip OA. PRP is a biological treatment with great prospective but there is lacking of standardization on the effect of intra-articular PRP injection for the management of hip OA. Due to the limited number of studies available for intra-articular PRP in the management of hip OA, there is still need to study effects of PRP in the management of hip OA. Thus, a randomized controlled trial shall be conducted in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, RIMS, Imphal to determine the effectiveness of ultrasound guided intra-articular injection of PRP in comparison with methylprednisolone acetate in reducing pain and improving function in hip osteoarthritis. The outcome variables which are VAS and WOMAC will be measured before starting intervention at baseline and at 1st week, 4th week, 12th week, 24th week post intervention follow up by using VAS for pain scale and WOMAC for quality of life. To represent the descriptive statistics, mean, standard deviation and percentage will be used. For comparing categorical data, chi square test will be used. Independent t-test will be used for comparison between the groups and the mean changes from baseline within each group will be compared by repeated measures ANOVA test. A p-value < 0.05 will be considered statistically significant.