Common questions

Does Arterial Blood have more Platelets than Venous Blood? NO

Is it more beneficial to use arterial blood in PRP than venous blood because there are more platelets? NO

This is a question patients have been asking since it has been reported by some clinicians utilizing PRP that arterial blood is superior to venous blood, “because it contains more platelets”. This is not true, in fact, when a Pathologist at one of the country’s premier Blood Banks was asked this question they responded, “There is generally not a significant difference in platelet counts in arterial vs. venous blood in humans, certainly not one that would justify an arterial vs. venous stick.”

Arterial blood - blood found in arteries; "except for the pulmonary artery the arterial blood is rich in oxygen". About 92% of blood is comprised of Red Blood cells “that carry oxygen” and about 4% of blood is made of Platelets “that contain cytokines or healing capable growth factors”. In PRP, the objective is to reverse the ratio of red blood cells to platelets so we can utilized a higher concentration of healing capable proteins or growth factors to repair damaged tissue and regenerate cells.

Arterial blood would be beneficial in blood doping where higher concentrations of oxygen are desired for increasing athletic performance. This is just the direct opposite of what is desired in the preparation of platelet rich plasma.