Is this platelet gel injection a new medical technology for rotator cuff tears?
It is gaining in popularity, we've been using with the surgeons here for over 6 years and now the surgeon that did my shoulder, uses it on ALL OF HIS SHOULDERS and ACL repairs. He had been using it (as do 99% of the surgeons at the hospital I work at) use it on all of their Total Knee and Total Hip Replacement cases, but hadn't on his 'out patient' cases until he saw my recovery.
Total knee replacement for example, studies have shown (even at our hospital) go home a day sooner (hospital saves money), require less pain meds (hospital saves money), require less donor blood (hospital saves money), reduce the risk of infection (you guessed it, saves the hospital money), and the patient's have a greater range of motion sooner, than those not getting Platelet Gel.
Platelets are rich in growth factors, so besides just in helping with bleeding, they also help reduce the risk of infection, reduce pain, reduce the need for donor blood, reduce the time in the hospital, increase bone growth....
My younger son had a rare type of hip fracture (alvusion fracture) where he took off running so fast, his muscle tore off a big chunk of his hip bone. The surgeon put two screws in to put the bone in place, and injected Platelet Gel (per my request). The surgeon was amazed at how much faster the bone healed (I wasn't, I knew it would). Because of this, my son was cleared to get back in the game much sooner (baseball).
Oh, I don't think I mentioned that to get the Platelet Gel, depending on the type of surgery, about 44-88 ml's of your OWN blood is drawn off, spun down, and the platelets are recovered and sprayed back in to the surgical wound.