Effectiveness of platelet rich plasma in burn wound healing: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the efficacy of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) in the treatment of burn wounds. METHODS: A comprehensive literature survey was conducted in electronic medical journal databases to identify studies that examined the effect of PRP treatment to burn wounds and meta-analyses of mean differences (MD) standardized MD, or odds ratios were performed. RESULTS: The percentage of graft take was not significantly different between PRP-treated and control wound areas. Healing rate was significantly better in PRP-treated wounds. Healing time was also significantly less in PRP-treated wounds. There was no significant difference between PRP-treated and control wound areas in epithelialization or in the incidence of adverse events. Incidence of infection was also not different between PRP-treated and control wound areas. Scar assessment score was significantly better in PRP-treated than in control wound areas. CONCLUSION: PRP treatment to burn wounds is found to improve healing. Variations in study design and sample size, types of wounds, PRP preparation protocols, and high risk of bias in some of the included studies may have impact on these outcomes.