Nonhealing chronic wounds and exposed tendons, bones and joints are very challenging to cure specially for diabetic patients. Plastic surgeons have a new weapon to enhance wound healing with the use of autologous growth factors. Recently, the process of fabrication of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has been simplified. The goal of this literature review is to summarize the evidenced-based body of knowledge regarding the treatment of diabetic chronic wounds by PRP. A PubMed and Cochrane search (1978-2015) was performed and all studies assessing the clinical effect of PRP on the healing of diabetic chronic wounds were included. The screening retrieved 7,555 articles and 12 studies were included. On six randomized studies included, five found significant benefits for the use of PRP on diabetic chronic foot ulcers and the sixth randomized study did not publish a statistical analysis but found favorable outcomes. The two other controlled studies included found significant benefits regarding the healing rate and the four uncontrolled studies included showed high rates of healing with the adjunction of PRP. Regarding the method of use, PRP was applied on the wound as a gel twice a week (41.7% of studies) or once a week (33.3% of studies). In conclusion, 87.5% of controlled studies found a significant benefit for the adjunction of PRP to treat chronic diabetic wounds. As PRP may be beneficial, we suggest using PRP on diabetic ulcers which remain unhealed after standard treatment.
© 2015 by the Wound Healing Society.