BREAKING NEWS: “Giancarlo Stanton Sidelined By PRP Injections, Set To Start Season On Injured List: How Yankees Will Adjust”.1
Now, admittedly, I know nothing about baseball, or what this means for the hopes and dreams of New York Yankees fans around the world. What I can speak on is that this headline is misleading. A quick glance tells the reader “Stanton isn’t playing because he had PRP injections”, which unfortunately is going to lead people to conclude that “PRP = Bad” and we should thus stay away from it.
This isn’t the first time PRP has made its way into headlines alongside well-known names though. Back in the mid-lates 2010s, news outlets largely contributed to generating a positive hype around PRP, frequently reporting its uses by elite athletes such as Tiger Woods and Kobe Bryant for injury recovery, and celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Kim Kardashian for aesthetic purposes.2 As of recent years, the newest beauty trend is a PRP facial combined with microneedling, which has been nicknamed the “vampire facial”, thanks to a viral selfie posted by Kardashian of her face covered in blood.2
PRP isn’t the new biologic-therapy kid on the block though, despite only really gaining popularity within the last 25 years. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is an autologous blood product, obtained by centrifuging a sample of the patient’s own whole blood to isolate and concentrate platelets 2-3x higher than found in whole blood (hence the name platelet-rich plasma). Mention of PRP first appeared in the literature in the 1950s, noted at that time only to be an irrelevant by-product from centrifugation of the more desirable RBCs and WBCs, and thus discarded. Then, in the 1970s, hematologists began using it for transfusions in thrombocytopenic patients, which, you know, makes sense, instead of throwing away platelets perfectly-capable of doing their job and clotting. It wasn’t until the 1990s though when oral and maxillofacial surgeons began utilizing PRP to enhance bone regeneration, finding that adding PRP increased bone graft density up to 74%, versus an increase of only 55% in grafts without PRP. 3,4 Since then, use of PRP has also been implemented in the fields of dermatology, esthetics, neurology, gynecology, orthopedics, sports medicine.3,6
What exactly is in PRP that makes it this promising rejuvenation potion? Aside from their role in platelet-plug formation and clotting, activated platelets release ɑ granules which contain growth factors such as transforming growth factor (TGF) ꞵ, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), and fibroblast growth factor (FGF).5,6 These growth factors have a variety of functions, including the promotion of bone, cartilage, muscle, and vasculature growth, and wound healing, which is why it’s such a promising biological therapy option within regenerative medicine.
Another benefit of PRP is that it’s simple, fast, and inexpensive to obtain. The process of obtaining PRP includes collecting a sample of whole blood from the patient onto a sodium-citrate coagulant. The sample then goes through two rounds of centrifugation to separate erythrocytes, leukocytes, and platelets by their densities. After the first round, the erythrocytes and leukocytes are removed, and the remaining plasma is spun again to separate the platelet-poor plasma (PPP) from PRP. Once PRP is obtained, an activating agent such as 5% calcium chloride, thrombin, or chitosan is added to activate the platelets before being injected back into the patient. Conveniently for the patient, it’s their own biological product, hence there is no risk of immune response, allergic reaction, or infection.6
Unfortunately, there is no standardized procedure for obtaining PRP, thus the number of concentrated platelets and secreted growth factors varies widely, ultimately influencing the efficacy and efficiency of the therapies depending on the method of preparation. This very likely contributes to the inconsistencies seen in clinical outcomes of PRP therapy, complicated even further by the media’s input and misinformation. What is evident in the current literature is that PRP has been effective for treating various tissue injuries, stimulating wound healing, and alleviating pain from chronic diseases (ie osteoarthropathy, chronic tendinopathies) when traditional medical treatments are ineffective. More research into PRP and its efficacy is warranted though.
In regards to Giancarlo Stanton and the Yankees, well, Stanton has in fact been having ongoing bilateral elbow tendinopathies and reportedly has not swung a bat in the last five weeks. It is because of this that he received bilateral PRP injections to accelerate the healing process and prevent any further damage, contrary to what the media will have us believe.7 Should Yankees fans still be worried? Maybe—but not because of the PRP, which may just be the performance-restoring panacea they need.
References
- Giancarlo Stanton Sidelined By PRP Injections, Set To Start Season On IL: How Yankees Will Adjust. 1 Mar. 2025, https://pinstripesnation.com/yankees-giancarlo-stanton-to-start-season-on-il-after-prp-injections-in-both-elbows-2025-03-01/.
- Blog | Top Celebrities Who’ve Had PRP Treatments. https://www.precisionpaincarerehab.com/news-articles-pl409/blog/top-celebrities-whove-had-prp-treatments-17195.html. Accessed 2 Mar. 2025.
- Forman, Michael S., and Alia Koch. “PRP History.” Platelet Rich Plasma in Medicine: Basic Aspects and Clinical Applications, edited by Elie M. Ferneini et al., Springer International Publishing, 2022, pp. 1–11. Springer Link, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94269-4_1.
- Marx, Robert E., et al. “Platelet-Rich Plasma: Growth Factor Enhancement for Bone Grafts.” Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology, Oral Radiology, and Endodontology, vol. 85, no. 6, June 1998, pp. 638–46. ScienceDirect, https://doi.org/10.1016/S1079-2104(98)90029-4.
- Finnoff, Jonathan T. DO*; Awan, Tariq M. DO†; Borg-Stein, Joanne MD‡; Harmon, Kimberly G. MD§; Herman, Daniel C. MD, PhD¶; Malanga, Gerard A. MD‖; Master, Zubin PhD**; Mautner, Kenneth R. MD††,‡‡; Shapiro, Shane A. MD§§. American Medical Society for Sports Medicine Position Statement: Principles for the Responsible Use of Regenerative Medicine in Sports Medicine. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine 31(6):p 530-541, November 2021. | DOI: 10.1097/JSM.0000000000000973
- Cecerska-Heryć, Elżbieta, et al. “Applications of the Regenerative Capacity of Platelets in Modern Medicine.” Cytokine & Growth Factor Reviews, vol. 64, Apr. 2022, pp. 84–94. ScienceDirect, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cytogfr.2021.11.003.
- “Giancarlo Stanton To Begin Season On Injured List.” MLB Trade Rumors, 1 Mar. 2025, https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/03/giancarlo-stanton-to-begin-season-on-injured-list.html.
Kathleen LeFiles is a medical student from the Class of 2026 at The University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix. She graduated in 2020 from The University of Arizona in Tucson with a degree in Physiology and a minor in Care, Health, and Society. When she's not studying or writing, Kathleen enjoys practicing Pilates and yoga, frequenting local coffee shops, and listening to pop music. Feel free to contact her @kathleenlefiles on Instagram or email at klefiles@arizona.edu.