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Dr. Aiello discusses the history of platelet rich plasma (PRP) therapy and shares how long doctors have been practicing this procedure.
Dr. Aiello:
A little history of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) – in 1999 the platelet-rich plasma was discovered or invented by different companies.
The first doctors to get on board with platelet-rich plasma were oral surgeons and plastic surgeons because they wanted to, they saw an enhanced healing when they were doing reconstructive surgery in the bones, and plastic surgeons when they were doing facial surgeries, and they started using the platelet-rich plasma to enhance the healing of those surgeries.
Then it was a very expensive technique at the time and ultimately different doctors started trying it on different joints and the professional, it was used by the professional athletes as far as trying to heal their injuries before they had to go to surgery. Tiger Woods had done it. Heinz Ward, Pittsburgh Stealers, had done it.
A doctor named Allan Mishra in Paolo Alto was working with some of the Stanford football players and was able to get one of them back to playing more quickly even after surgery than what had been, than player would have been expected to get back.
Then Dr. Mishra had done some studies on tennis elbows – very difficult, very difficult tendonitis to treat. I think one of the big reasons why is it has poor blood supply.
He did some studies and found that he was able to get 90 percent healing at approximately six month’s time, and these people had had the injuries for over 20 months before the procedure was done, very promising.
That was in 2004. Since then it’s been making its way into the public. And now that insurance covers it, I think eventually this will become standard of care for joint problems.
It will become, in a year or two, you are going to see patients demanding it and insisting on having this before they consider any kind of surgery because we can stabilize these joints and keep them out of a surgical situation.
About Dr. Joseph Aiello, D.O.:
Dr. Joseph Aiello, D.O., attended Osteopathic Medical School at the University of Health Sciences in Kansas City, Missouri and completed a Family Practice Residency at Brentwood Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio in 1991. Dr. Aiello is licensed in California and board certified in Family Practice by the American College of Osteopathic Family Practitioners. He acquired additional training in acupuncture in 2001 through the UCLA department of Continuing Medical Education.
Visit Dr. Aiello at his Web site