To Improve Pain and Function, Platelet-Rich Plasma Injections May Be an Alternative to Surgery for Treating Lateral Epicondylitis: A Systematic Review.

Purpose: To determine whether platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection for lateral epicondylitis offers patients comparable outcomes to lateral epicondylar surgery.

Methods: Embase, Cochrane Library, and MEDLINE databases were searched using the terms lateral epicondylitis, lateral elbow pain, tennis elbow, lateral epicondylalgia, and elbow tendinopathy individually and combined with the terms platelet-rich plasma injections and lateral epicondylar surgery. We compared pain relief, function between the 2 treatment options, and identified whether PRP injection reduced the incidence of lateral epicondylar surgery.