A longitudinal, double blinded, negative controlled study, investigating the effect of Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) in police working dogs with bilateral hip osteoarthritis (OA)

In this double blinded clinical study, twenty dogs were randomly assigned to either a control group (CG, n = 10) or treatment group (PG, n = 10)

• The treated group received 2ml of PRP per hip joint, produced with the commercially available CRT PurePRP®Kit (Companion Regenerative Therapies, Newark, DE, USA) and the control group received 2 ml of 0.9% NaCl per hip joint.
• Four different CMIs (Canine Brief Pain Inventory: Pain Severity Score & Pain Interference Score; Liverpool Osteoarthritis in Dogs ; Hudson Visual Analog and Canine Orthopedic Index) were used to assess joint function at 8, 15, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 days post initial treatment.
• The results of the study showed that the intra-articular inoculation of PRP could reduce pain and improve several functional scores of police working dogs with bilateral hip OA.
• The improvement in functional scores were observed in some cases lasting until the end of the study which lasted 6 months.
• Platelet Rich Plasma continues to gain increased interest to treat musculoskeletal conditions in companion animals because of the growth factors contained in platelets which contribute to tissue regeneration, reduce inflammation and promote cartilage synthesis or inhibition of its breakdown.
• OA is the most commonly diagnosed joint disease in companion animals and hip OA is commonly diagnosed in dogs, leading to reduced joint function and pain.
• For moderate to severe OA cases PRP is a valuable option and particularly to manage those cases where medication/treatment compliance or side effects are a concern.
• The study was conducted in extremely active police working dogs and pet dogs may experience longer lasting PRP joint functional improvements compared to working dogs