AbstractBackground and Aim: Tennis elbow also known as lateral epicondylitis is one of the frequent reasons for in the lateral side of elbow. When there is application of the local injection of autologous blood in case of tennis elbow, it provides humoral and cellular factors at the site of the lesion and provides a healing environment. Present study was done with the aim to evaluate the effects of the local corticosteroid injection and autologous blood injection in the management of the elbow. Materials & Methods: A randomized control study was performed on 40 patients; they were divided into two groups A & B with 20 patients in each group. Group A were given 2 ml of Autologous blood injection and group B were given 80 mg Steroid injection (methyl prednisolone). Follow up of the patient was done at regular intervals of 4 weeks, 12 weeks and 6 months. Results: After 4 weeks VAS pain score and Nirschl stage sustained to reduce in group A, but to the opposing in group B average VAS pain score raised from 1.68 to 1.88 and Nirschl stage too improved from 1.50 to 1.84 at 12 weeks & 6 months of follow up correspondingly. There was significant difference between the groups in VAS score (0.56 versus 1.88) and Nirschl stage (0.32 versus 1.84) at 6 months of follow up. At the six-month follow-up 90% patients had total pain release in group A in contrast to only 45% in group B. Seven out of 20 (35%) patients had reappearance of pain at 6 months of follow up in group B but none of patients reported reappearance of pain or disability in group A. Conclusion: Injection of autologous blood is a well-organized management modality for lateral epicondylitis, which is easy, not expensive, with fewer side-effects and smallest recurrence rate.
Keywords: Autologous; Lateral Epicondylitis; Steroid; Tennis Elbow.