Losing money and getting sick when treating joint diseases at non-specialized facilities

The two patients, Ms. Ngo Thi Bien, 71 years old, residing in Tuc Duyen ward and Ms. Tran Thi De, 78 years old, residing in Quang Vinh ward, both in Thai Nguyen city, Thai Nguyen province, both received knee treatment at a private clinic on Hoang Ngan street, Thai Nguyen city.

The two patients said that this facility specializes in oriental medicine and physical therapy. The initial purpose of the patients was to come to the facility for neck and shoulder massage. Through questioning and research, the facility learned that Ms. Bien and Ms. De had knee pain, so they advised injecting platelet-rich plasma to “rejuvenate the knee joint”, ensuring that the treatment could be cured within 7 or 8 years.

Ms. Bien and Ms. De decided to have a course of 5 injections of platelet-rich plasma, costing only a few hundred thousand VND/injection. After the third injection into both knee joints, both patients experienced increased pain, swelling, redness, and difficulty walking. Reflecting this situation, the clinic only prescribed painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs for the two women to take. When the drugs did not help, the two women decided to go to Thai Nguyen Central Hospital for examination and treatment.

Upon admission to the Department of Rheumatology, Thai Nguyen Central Hospital, 2 patients underwent knee joint aspiration, the amount of fluid was about 10-30ml on each side, the fluid was cloudy yellow. The results of the joint fluid test showed that the knee joint fluid was acute inflammatory fluid, the number of white blood cells in the joint fluid increased, along with inflammatory indicators in the blood such as the number of white blood cells, blood sedimentation rate, and CRP also increased.

The patients were prescribed antibiotics combined with intravenous infusion, pain relief, and anti-inflammation. After about 10 days of active treatment, the inflammation, swelling, and pain in both knee joints and the ability to walk and move of the two patients improved, and the inflammatory indicators in the blood decreased significantly.

From the reality of the two patients, the doctor of the Department of Orthopedics, Thai Nguyen Central Hospital recommends that patients and people with joint pain and unusual symptoms on the body should go to reputable medical facilities for examination and treatment, and should not self-study and treat at non-specialized facilities, such as spas and unprestigious spontaneous clinics.

In fact, there are many private facilities that advertise the treatment of knee osteoarthritis by injecting platelet-rich plasma to help relieve pain quickly, and guarantee a 100% cure. However, joint diseases in general are mostly caused by degeneration, and treatment requires perseverance and following the correct regimen.

At Thai Nguyen Central Hospital, the platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection technique has been and is being applied by the Department of Orthopedics to treat osteoarthritis and enthesitis. This is a modern, safe method with few side effects, minimizing complications and shortening treatment time in cases of osteoarthritis of the knee, hip, shoulder, enthesitis, tendon tears, etc. However, this method needs to be performed at reputable hospitals and medical facilities, ensuring sterility, and performed by experienced specialists.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/tien-mat-tat-mang-khi-dieu-tri-benh-ly-khop-tai-cac-co-so-khong-chuyen-post832852.html