Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Platelet-rich plasma injections for dog joint arthritis treatment
By Cardona-Ramírez, Sebastian et al.·Published in Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association·2025·School of Veterinary Medicine·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Intra-articular use of platelet-rich plasma and its derivatives in canine osteoarthritis: a systematic review.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with osteoarthritis (OA), a painful joint condition, received injections of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) to see if it could help improve their pain and mobility. The review included 18 studies with a total of 379 dogs, and while most showed that PRP treatment led to significant improvements in pain and function, there were inconsistencies in how the treatments were applied. Some dogs experienced mild and temporary side effects like local pain or limping after the injections. Overall, PRP shows promise for managing OA in dogs, but more standardized research is needed to confirm its effectiveness.
People also search for: dog osteoarthritis treatment · platelet-rich plasma for dogs · dog joint pain relief
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Canine osteoarthritis (OA) is a progressive degenerative joint disease causing pain and mobility impairment. While the disease is incurable, multimodal management including regenerative therapies like platelet-rich plasma (PRP) can improve outcomes. However, protocol standardization remains a challenge. METHODS: We conducted a PRISMA (ie, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses)-compliant systematic review of peer-reviewed studies evaluating intra-articular PRP for canine OA. Included studies reported functional or pain outcomes. The Cochrane robvis tool was used to assess risk of bias. RESULTS: A total of 18 studies comprising 379 dogs were included. Hips were most frequently treated (10 of 18 studies). Most protocols used single injections (13 of 18 studies), with substantial reporting gaps: 8 of 18 studies lacked platelet concentration data, 6 of 18 omitted activation methods, and only 7 of 18 provided sufficient detail for PRP classification (leukocyte-poor platelet-rich plasma or leukocyte-rich platelet-rich plasma). Objective gait analysis appeared in 7 of 18 studies. All studies reported significant pain/function improvement, though 8 articles showed high risk of bias due to inadequate randomization or blinding. Adverse events were reported in 6 publications as mild and transient local pain or lameness. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: PRP demonstrates potential for canine OA management, but protocol heterogeneity and methodological limitations preclude definitive efficacy conclusions. While observational data indicated potentially enhanced effects when PRP is combined with adjunctive treatments like physical therapy or orthobiologics, these findings required validation through rigorously controlled, multi-institutional trials employing standardized protocols and objective outcome measures to successfully claim improved efficacy. Future research should prioritize comprehensive reporting of PRP preparation methods and incorporate objective outcome measures.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40912277/