Production cost of autologous platelet rich plasma gel.
Andrea Pinto Leite Ribeiro, Beatriz Guitton Renaud Baptista de Oliveira
PMID 31826162WHAT IT FOUND
Autologous PRP gel cost US $4.88 per session and US $29.31 for six sessions in a Brazilian university hospital.
Nurse time drove 85.8% of cost. This is cost data, not proof PRP works.
Key findings
01The direct cost of producing autologous PRP gel was US $4.88 per session and US $29.31 for six sessions, using nurse time as the human resource.
02Human resources accounted for 85.8% of the cost of one session, and the procedure took about 22 minutes from blood collection through PRP delivery.
03The six-session cost at the university hospital was US $29.31, close to the SUS pricing panel mean of US $30.94, while the panel minimum was US $20.87 and the maximum was US $66.75.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The cost was measured in one university hospital in Rio de Janeiro, with 18 participants, so it may not match other settings or patient groups. The study did not test whether PRP improves wound healing, so the cost finding cannot be read as evidence of effectiveness. The estimate focused on material and human resources, and the supplied text does not report equipment costs such as the centrifuge. Prices and staffing costs were assigned in 2018, and material use varied because some participants had difficult punctures or completed fewer sessions. Few Brazilian studies on PRP production cost were available for comparison.
Declared interests
The paper says it was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico. The supplied text does not report additional conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the low cost as evidence that autologous PRP gel improves wounds. The paper estimates production cost and nurse time; it does not report a clinical outcome or test effectiveness.