The aim of this review and meta-analysis is to assess recent clinical trials concerning the combination of operative treatment of rotator cuff tears and the administration of PRP and its effect on clinical scores and postoperative retear rates. The trials were used to compare the combination of PRP treatment and arthroscopic rotator cuff repair to arthroscopy alone. Twenty-five clinical trials were reviewed. A risk-of-bias assessment was made for all randomized clinical trials included, using the Cochrane collaboration’s tool as well as a quality assessment for all non-randomized studies utilizing the Newcastle–Ottawa scale. The PRP-treated patients showed statistically significant improvement postoperatively compared to control groups concerning the Constant–Murley (mean difference 2.46, 95% CI 1.4–3.52, p < 0.00001), SST (mean difference 0.32, 95% CI 0.02–0.63, p = 0.04), and UCLA (mean difference 0.82, 95% CI 0.23–1.43, p = 0.07) scores. A statistically significant decrease of retear rates in the PRP-treated patients, with a risk ratio of 0.78 (95% CI 0.65–0.94, p = 0.01), was found. We believe that the results presented have positive aspects, especially concerning the retear risk, but are yet inconclusive concerning clinical results such as shoulder pain and function.

Proximal tibiofibular joint (PTFJ) arthritis is rare and, thus, not regularly considered as a source of knee pain. In this report, we present the case of a patient with posterior knee pain attributed to a medial meniscal tear rather than to a co-existing PTFJ arthritis, which was not appreciated. Based on the initial diagnosis, the patient underwent knee arthroscopy that did not alleviate his symptoms. The presence of established tibiofibular joint arthritis was diagnosed on subsequent clinical and MRI reassessment. An intra-articular corticosteroid injection settled the patient’s symptoms. The aim of this report is to raise awareness about tibiofibular joint arthritis as a possible cause of posterior or lateral knee pain.

Shoulder rotator cuff tears are a common condition, which under specific indications is treated with arthroscopic repair. The optimal treatment aims at alleviating shoulder pain, the return of shoulder functionality and the prevention of recurrence of symptoms. The aim of the present study was to investigate and describe the augmentation of arthroscopic repair of rotator cuff tears with platelet‑rich‑plasma (PRP) treatment postoperatively, and its effects on pain, shoulder functionality and risk of retear. A total of 51 patients were divided into two groups. The treatment group received a subacromial PRP injection in the direct postoperative period after arthroscopic repair of rotator cuff tears, while the control group underwent arthroscopic treatment alone. There was no statistically significant difference in the verbal numeric rating score at 30 days postoperatively and the Constant‑Murley and American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons shoulder scores at 3, 6 and 12 months postoperatively between the two groups. However, the patients in the treatment group exhibited a statistically significant improvement of both scores between the 3‑ and 6‑month timepoints, which was not observed in the control group. A smaller portion of the treatment group had rotator cuff retears compared with the control group (42.86 vs. 75.00%), although this was not statistically significant. It has not yet been adequately established that PRP treatment can provide additional benefits when combined with surgical treatment of rotator cuff tears. Further research with larger sample sizes may provide sufficient data concerning a possible protective effect on the postoperative retear risk. The trial has been registered on ClinicalTrials.gov under number NCT07689383 (submission date, July 1, 2026) and can be accessed at: clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07689383?term=NCT07689383&viewType=Card&rank=1.