Abstract
Porpose: The incresing the incidence of total joint arthroplasty reflects the rises of osteoarthritis (OA) prevalence. OA is a degenerative pathalogy affecting joints with a significant impact on quality of life causing pain, leading to social lfe limitations and loss of work productivity. According to the worls Health Organization, OA is one of the most important causes of proples disability. The burden of the dusease is a correlated with a huge economic impact on the health care systems. Intra-articular infiltration therapies are used between the pharmacological and the surgical phases, in order to delay surgery. This work aims to carry out an economic evaluation on the use of the platelet-Rich-Plasma (PRP) therapy in the treatment of knee OA. The comparator is the hyaluronic acid,i.e. the standard therapy for drug-resistant OA that does not benefit or has short term benefits (<1 month) with intra-articular corticosteroids.