New Idea: Healing Injuries with Blood: New treatment at the Cardiff Bay Clinic

July 2009. Doctors at Vale Healthcare are using Concentrated Blood Plasma Injections for the treatment of stubborn chronic soft tissue injury using Blood Plasma Injections.

Vale Healthcare is the first in Wales to provide an innovative treatment for patients suffering from chronic and painful tendonitis. These conditions include ‘Tennis Elbow’, ‘Golfers Elbow, Plantar Fasciitis, Achilles Tendonitis, Knee and Shoulder tendonitis.

The Arthrex ACP Double Syringe System is used to obtain platelet rich plasma (PRP) from a patient’s blood, which is then re-injected under ultrasound guidance to promote the healing of tendon scar tissue. Sports Physician Dr Geoff Davies is providing this treatment at Vale Healthcare’s Cardiff Bay Clinic.

“Tendinopathy (commonly know as tendonitis) occurs when tendons (bands of fibrous connective tissue connecting muscle to bone) become damaged, usually as a result of overuse or injury. Physiotherapy is used to treat damage to tendons in the first instance, but in cases where this healing process has failed, we can use the Double Syringe System to treat scars left on tendons that cause many people long-term problems.

The process involves blood being taken from the patient and re-injected around their affected tendon. Crucially, before the blood is re-injected it goes through an intense spinning technique called centrifugation to extract platelets from the blood. Platelets create growth factors and by increasing the concentration of these growth factors within a small sample of blood, we are able to promote healing in chronic cases. The skill in this process is re-injecting the blood into the right areas to get the best result and we use ultrasound guidance to give us accuracy.