Benjamin Huang
Benjamin Huang is our student highlight for the month of December. Benjamin is currently a second-year medical student at Touro University Nevada. He is originally from Los Angeles, California and attended undergraduate school at the University of California San Diego. He loved living in beautiful San Diego, and while attending UCSD, he was well known for his year-long stent of eating at the same taco truck every day. When not studying, Benjamin loves to be at the gym or on the golf course. He has invested time into his golf game and impressively has a 10 handicap. He additionally enjoys cooking, especially traditional recipes such as the bolognese recipe he received from an Italian grandmother a few years ago. He is interested in Orthopedic Surgery as a future career, and most of his research has been surrounding that field of interest.
Benjamin presented this research project titled, “NSAIDs with PRP: New Considerations” virtually at the monthly ResearchXP Consortium. The project was a systematic review evaluating the literature on how non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications exhibit their effects on bulk platelet aggregation and how this could interact with platelet-rich plasma injections. NSAIDs are mechanistically expected to inhibit platelet function due to reduced production of Thromboxane A2. PRP is a commonly used injectable in various conditions, notably musculoskeletal, and is dependent on platelet function. Various NSAID medications were analyzed during this study. A total of 695 studies were identified through the initial search with 25 studies meeting all inclusion criteria. Participants taking ibuprofen and diclofenac showed inhibition of platelets with rapid recovery in eight hours. Naproxen demonstrated inhibition longer than 24 hours. Indomethacin showed recovery by 24 hours. Acetaminophen demonstrated some platelet inhibition at higher doses lasting less than 90 minutes. In his conclusion, Ben mentioned that NSAIDs with COX-1 activity should be deferred before PRP injections because they inhibit platelet aggregation. He also listed the recommended deferral periods based on the medications.
