ArticleKnee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA2019
Injection with autologous conditioned serum has better clinical results than eccentric training for chronic Achilles tendinopathy.
Article in Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exercise therapy for tendinopathy: a mixed-methods evidence synthesis exploring feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2023Pooled it
- Cell-Free Blood Cell Secretome (BCS) Counteracts Skin Aging: Multi-Center Prospective Regenerative Aesthetic Medicine Study Using Exokine®.Clinical, cosmetic and investigational dermatology · 2022Trial
- Regenerative biologics modulating inflammation and promoting tenogenesis in equine superficial digital flexor tendonitis: from molecular pathways to clinical translation.Irish veterinary journal · 2025Review
- Injectables in the Therapy of Mid-Portion Achilles Tendinopathy, a Descriptive Review.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- A comparison between the efficacy of eccentric exercise and extracorporeal shock wave therapy on tendon thickness, vascularity, and elasticity in Achilles tendinopathy: A randomized controlled trial.Turkish journal of physical medicine and rehabilitation · 2022Article
- Autologous conditioned serum (Orthokine) injection for treatment of classical trigeminal neuralgia: results of a single-center case series.Journal of medical case reports · 2022Article
- Resistance Training Interventions for Lower Limb Tendinopathies: A Scoping Review of Resistance Training Reporting Content, Quality, and Scientific Implementation.Translational sports medicine · 2022Article
- Low Molecular Weight Hyaluronic Acid (500-730 Kda) Injections in Tendinopathies-A Narrative Review.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2021Review
- Article
- Factors associated with positive outcomes of platelet-rich plasma therapy in Achilles tendinopathy.European journal of orthopaedic surgery & traumatology : orthopedie traumatologie · 2020Article
- Neuroimmune modulation of pain and regenerative pain medicine.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2020Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeChronic Achilles tendinopathy is one of the most common causes of malfunction and pain, which can lead to a significant reduction of the quality of life. The hypothesis of this study argues that autologous conditioned serum (i.e. Orthokine) injections in chronic midportion Achilles tendinopathy have a better outcome than eccentric training.
methodsThis study investigates, retrospectively, the effects of peritendinous autologous conditioned serum injections as compared to standard eccentric training in 50 patients with chronic Achilles tendinopathy between 2012 and 2015. Before injection or eccentric training and 6 weeks, 12 weeks and 6 months thereafter, the patients were assessed by means of the VISA-A-G score (Victorian Institute of Sport Assessment-Achilles questionnaire-German). An MRI was also performed before and 6 months after injection and eccentric training.
resultsBoth patient groups had statistically significant better VISA-A-G scores after injection or eccentric training compared to the baseline before injection (90 vs 40, respectively, P < 0.001) or eccentric training (81 vs 47, respectively, P < 0.001). Comparing the baseline corrected VISA-A-G scores, patients in the autologous-conditioned-serum-group had significantly higher changes in VISA-A-G scores than the eccentric-training-group after 12 weeks (40 vs 36, P = 0.018) and 6 months (50 vs 34, P = 0.034). Both patient groups had statistically significant (P < 0.001) reduction of tendon thickness (autologous conditioned serum: 0.32; eccentric training: 0.24) and length of bursa (autologous conditioned serum: 0.24; eccentric training: 0.21) as well as significant (P < 0.001) improvement of tendon quality in MRI (autologous conditioned serum: 14 vs 1; eccentric training: 14 vs 2). There were no statistical differences in MRI-findings between the two groups.
conclusionBoth therapies led to improvement of MRI-findings, including reduction of tendon thickness and tendon quality. Autologous-conditioned-serum-injections show greater clinical long-term benefit as compared to eccentric training and, therefore, offers a good alternative to eccentric training. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic studies, Level III.
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