Coverage Decisions for Medical Technologies & Procedures

The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries' (L&I) web site does not properly display because JavaScript is disabled or not supported by your browser.The following links may help you navigate the L&I web site:

Topic Index.

Home.

Safety.

Find a Law (RCW) or Rule (WAC).

Help.


Coverage Decisions for Medical Technologies & Procedures

Autologous Blood Injections

Coverage decision

L&I does not cover autologous blood injection/patch therapy at this time for lateral epicondylitis or any other indication. This procedure is considered experimental due to a lack of published literature indicating safety and effectiveness.

Autologous blood injections are intended to treat lateral epicondylitis, or "tennis elbow". It has been hypothesized that blood injections contain the cellular and humoral mediators to induce a healing cascade. Approximately 2 ml of blood are taken from a patient and mixed with 1 ml of lidocaine; the mixture is then injected into the patient at the lateral epicondyle.

PDF icon Autologous Blood Injections technology assessment (27 KB PDF).

For more information:
Contact information.

Get Help Downloading Files.