title: Bone marrow injection: A novel treatment for tennis elbow.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this prospective study was assessment of efficacy of bone marrow aspirate (BMA) (containing plasma rich in growth factors and mesenchymal stem cells) injection in treatment of tennis elbow.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 30 adult patients of previously untreated tennis elbow were administered single injection of BMA. This concentrate was made by centrifugation of iliac BMA at 2000 rpm for 20-30 min and only upper layer containing platelet rich plasma and mononuclear cells was injected. Assessment was performed at baseline, 2 weeks, 6 weeks and 12 weeks using Patient-rated Tennis Elbow Evaluation (PRTEE) score.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Baseline pre-injection mean PRTEE score was 72.8 ± 6.97 which decreased to a mean PRTEE score of 40.93 ± 5.94 after 2 weeks of injection which was highly significant (P < 0.0001). The mean PRTEE score at 6 week and 12 week follow-up was 24.46 ± 4.58 and 14.86 ± 3.48 respectively showing a highly significant decrease from baseline scores (P < 0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Treatment of tennis elbow patients with single injection of BMA showed a significant improvement in short to medium term follow-up. In future, such growth factors and/or stem cells based injection therapy can be developed as an alternative conservative treatment for patients of tennis elbow, especially who have failed non-operative treatment before surgical intervention is taken.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, Rohilkhand Medical College, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Ajit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, Rohilkhand Medical College, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Devendra Singh
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Gangwar
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiotherapy, Jaipur College of Physiotherapy, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.
authors.forename: Shekhar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Singh
keywords: Bone marrow plasma; lateral epicondylitis; stem cells; tendinopathy
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