Use and misuse of PRP clinical trial proposal to help find PRP’s true efficacy

Abstract

Introduction: Since the early 1970s, Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has been used in many fields as a potential remedy for having regenerative properties. In dermatology, its use is extended to different hair diseases: alopecia areata, traction alopecia, androgenetic alopecia (AGA), and even cicatricial alopecia. Despite its increasing use in the clinical practice, the protocol used to produce PRP differs greatly between researchers and its efficacy has not been clearly demonstrated.

Particularly, AGA is an illness characterized by a progressive hair thinning and miniaturization caused by the effect of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) on the hair follicle. This type of alopecia is the most common in men, increasing its incidence with age. Until the date, there are only two efficient treatments approved by the FDA: Finasteride and Minoxidil. PRP seems to be a potential new candidate according to recent studies, but multiple PRP obtaining techniques have raised ambiguous results about the real efficacy of PRP in patients with AGA. Thus, we have elaborated a methodology to help researchers designing future clinical trials on PRP therapy. We propose a randomized clinical trial with a uniformed PRP obtaining technique in order to properly assess the PRP efficacy as a treatment for AGA.

Objective: Analyze the objective data published until the date in order to define the real efficacy of PRP as a treatment for AGA, and offer a design of a clinical phase trial with a standardized methodology to obtain proper scientific evidence of PRP efficacy.

Methods: Retrospective systematic review of the literature published and a randomized placebo-controlled, double-bind, half-head study clinical trial proposal with a uniformed PRP obtaining methodology to properly assess its efficacy as a future AGA treatment.