Autologous blood injection

Autologous Blood Injection (ABI), also known as Autologous Conditioned Plasma (ACP) Injection is a recent medical procedure whereby a patient's blood is injected into an area of the body for the purposes of healing. It is most commonly used to treat degeneration of tendons, which may occur in association with small tears. This disorder of tendons is frequently referred to as "tendinitis" by the public, however is known as tendinosis or tendinopathy in the medical profession. The procedure is usually performed under ultrasound control by a radiologist. The injection of blood contains small cells called platelets, which contain platelet derived growth factor. This substance is thought to promote tendon healing. A variation on the technique is Platelet Rich Plasma(PRP), which is where the whole blood removed from the patient is spun in a centrifuge, separating the cells of the blood. As such a higher concentration of platelets is delivered into the tissue for healing. As yet, there has been no study to demonstrate that a PRP injection is superior to ABI, with both techniques demonstrating improvement in 70-80% of patients.