Osteochondral lesions remain as a clinical challenge despite the advances in orthopedic regenerative strategies. Biologics, in particular, platelet-rich plasma, has been applied for the reparative and regenerative effect in many tissues, and osteochondral tissue is not an exception. Platelet-rich plasma is an autologous concentrate prepared from the collected blood; thus, this safe application is free of immune response or risk of transmission of disease. It has a high potential to promote regeneration, thanks to its content, and can be applied alone or can reinforce a tissue engineering strategy. The relevant works making use of platelet-rich plasma in osteochondral lesions are overviewed herein. The practical success of platelet-rich plasma is uncertain since there are many factors involved including but not limited to its preparation and administration method. Nevertheless, today, the issues and challenges of platelet-rich plasma have been well acknowledged by researchers and clinicians. Thus, it is believed that a consensus will be built it, and then with high-quality randomized controlled trials and standardized protocols, the efficacy of platelet-rich plasma therapy can be better evaluated.
Highlights: The need of treating the osteochondral lesions has not been yet met in the clinics. Thanks to being an autologous source of growth factors, interleukins, and other cytokines and relative ease of clinical application, i.e., during a single-step surgical procedure, the use of platelet-rich plasma is of great interest. The high theoretical potential of the role of platelet-rich plasma in the regeneration process of osteochondral lesions is known, and the efficiency needs to be confirmed by high-quality randomized controlled trials for a robust position in the treatments of osteochondral lesions in the clinics.
Keywords: Osteochondral; Platelet-rich plasma; Regeneration; Tissue engineering.