COMPARITIVE STUDY OF LOCAL STEROID INJECTION VERSUS AUTOLOGOUS BLOOD INJECTION THERAPY FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF LATERAL EPICONDYLITI S

OBJECTIVES: Local corticosteroid infiltration is a common practice of treatment for lateral epicondylitis. In recent studies no statistically significant or clinically relevant results in favour of corticosteroid injections were found. The injection of autologous blood has been reported to be effective for both intermediate and long-term outcomes. It is hypothesized that blood contains growth factors, which induce the healing cascade. METHODS: A total of 50 patients were included in this prospective randomized study. Patients were divided in 2 groups of 25 patients each. Group I received 2 ml local corticosteroid + 1 ml 2% lignocaine, Group II received 2 ml autologous blood drawn from ipsilateral upper limb vein + 1 ml 2% lignocaine, and at the lateral epicondyle. Outcome was measured using a pain score (VAS). Follow-up was continued for total of six months. RESULTS: The corticosteroid injection group showed a statistically significant decrease in pain compared with autologous blood injection group at six weeks follow up. At final six-month follow-up, autologous blood injection group showed statistically significant decrease in pain compared with corticosteroid injection group. CONCLUSIONS: Autologous blood injection is efficient compared with corticosteroid injection, with less side-effects and minimum recurrence rate in long term.