"Platelet-Rich Plasma" Transforaminal Epidural Injection an Emerging Strategy in Lumbar Disc Herniation

The study was a randomized controlled trial, triple-blind, single-center/surgeon/assessor. The study was conducted between April 2019 to May 2021. We evaluated 30 patients (both genders) aged 20-55 years, having failed conservative treatment of unilateral HNP undergone for at least 6 weeks, with visual analogue scale (VAS) of greater than 30, and confirmed a single-level HNP, corelated to clinical, by MRI. The exclusion criteria included previous spine surgery or epidural injection, progressive neurological deficit, cauda equina, coagulopathy-related conditions, associated cervical myelopathy, systemic bone and joint diseases. All patients had to have been exempted from NSAIDs for at least one week. Patients were treated by transforaminal epidural injections. Fifteen patients were in triamcinolone and PRP groups each. PRP was obtained from 24 ml venous blood through standardized double-spin protocol. Participants were fifteen patients each in triamcinolone and PRP groups. The same postoperative protocols and medications were applied. The visual analogue scale of leg (LegVAS), collected at baseline, 2, 6, 12, and 24 weeks, was the primary outcome. The BackVAS, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), adverse event, and treatment failure were the secondary endpoints. All subjects were analyzed according to the intention-to-treat principle. All statistical analyses were performed with STATA 17.