Pain in donor site after BTB-ACL reconstruction with PRGF: a randomized trial

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears are highly incident injuries in young athletes within our work area. The use of the patellar graft, despite being the treatment of choice, presents post-operative problems such as anterior knee pain, which limits its use and leads to preference being taken for alternative grafts. Our aim was to evaluate if the application of PRGF reduces anterior knee pain in donor site in BTB-ACL reconstruction. 43 patients were included in the double-blinded and randomized clinical trial comparing two patient groups who underwent ACL reconstruction using patellar tendon graft, comparing anterior knee pain with and without the application of PRGF at the donor site after harvesting the graft. Results: The PRGF group showed decreased donor site pain in comparison to the control group, with significant differences in the first two months of follow-up. The application of PRGF decreased donor site pain compared to the control group.