Cosmetic Surgery Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Cosmetic Surgery, including details on microsurgery, reconstruction, techniques, risks.

Platelet-rich plasma: a review of biology and applications in plastic surgery.

Eppley BL, Pietrzak WS, Blanton M

Division of Plastic Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Ind 43202, USA. beppley@iupui.edu

Healing of hard and soft tissue is mediated by a complex array of intracellular and extracellular events that are regulated by signaling proteins, a process that is, at present, incompletely understood. What is certain, however, is that platelets play a prominent if not deciding role. Controlled animal studies of soft and hard tissues have suggested that the application of autogenous platelet-rich plasma can enhance wound healing. The clinical use of platelet-rich plasma for a wide variety of applications has been reported; however, many reports are anecdotal and few include controls to definitively determine the role of platelet-rich plasma. The authors describe platelet biology and its role in wound healing; the preparation, characterization, and use of platelet-rich plasma; and those applications in plastic surgery for which it may be useful.

Published 19 October 2006 in Plast Reconstr Surg, 118(6): 147e-159e.
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