Haematological characterization and classification of plasma rich in growth factors (PRGF): a retrospective study of 919 patients in a real-world traumatology setting

Abstract Background Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has emerged as a minimally invasive and widely used therapeutic option within the evolving field of regenerative medicine This retrospective study aimed to characterise plasma rich in growth factors (PRGF), a standardised type of PRP, obtained in a real-world traumatology clinical setting. The consistency of the formulations was also evaluated using three specific classification systems. Methods We analysed anonymised haematological data from 919 patients treated with infiltrations of plasma rich in growth factors, comparing the absolute and relative concentrations of platelets, leukocytes, and erythrocytes to baseline peripheral blood. The final products were then classified using the Mishra, PAW and Consensus Expert systems. Results The preparation protocol significantly concentrated platelets, increasing the mean baseline level of 238 × 10 3 /µL to 473 × 10 3 /µL in the infiltrated fraction, resulting in a two-fold concentration factor. Leukocytes were significantly depleted, decreasing from 6.9 × 10 3 /µL in whole blood to 0.5 × 10 3 /µL. Similarly, erythrocytes decreased markedly from 4.76 × 10 6 /µL to 0.01 × 10 6 /µL. Classification of the samples across all three systems demonstrated a remarkably high degree of homogeneity, with the vast majority falling into categories characterised by moderate platelet enrichment, exogenous activation and an almost complete absence of leukocytes. According to the Mishra system, 99.9% samples were categorised as type 4B, while 94.2% fell into the P2-X-B category under the PAW system. The ten most abundant categories, as classified under the Consensus Expert coding, account for over 90% of the preparations, with code 24-00-11 being the most frequent at nearly 25%. Conclusions This real-world evidence highlights the reproducibility of plasma rich in growth factors in routine traumatology practice. The haematological characteristics obtained replicate the purity and concentration levels reported in previous studies. The highly consistent outcomes across the Mishra, PAW and Consensus Expert classifications enable comparison with other protocols.