What PRP equipment does a clinic need to start?

Written by Oscar Tellez, founder of Regen Med Academy. Oscar is not a clinician. This post is education for licensed providers and is not medical advice. Last updated October 27, 2026.

The PRP equipment for a clinic that is starting out is a short list, and it begins with a PRP system, which is a centrifuge plus the single-use kits made for it. You also need blood draw supplies, injection supplies, a sharps container and a clean place to work. Ultrasound comes in only for the injections that call for guidance. Choose an FDA-cleared system, read its clearance, and wait to buy until you have trained on one.

What equipment do I need for PRP, in one list?

Here is the whole list before we take the parts one at a time.

• A PRP system, which means a centrifuge and the single-use kits made to run in it.
• The tubes and the anticoagulant that the system’s instructions call for.
• Blood draw supplies for the patient’s arm.
• Injection supplies for the area you plan to inject.
• A sharps container and a clean, flat place to open the kit.
• An ultrasound unit, but only if your injections call for guidance and you are trained to use it.

That list is shorter than a sales package can make it look. The rest of this post is about how to think about each line before you spend anything.

Equipment is only one part of getting ready, and the license, the training, the consent and the carrier call are in our checklist of what you need to offer PRP injections.

What is a PRP system, and what does the PRP centrifuge do?

A PRP system is two things that are sold to work together. One is the centrifuge, and the other is the single-use kit that goes inside it.

The centrifuge is the machine that spins the blood. Spinning sorts the blood by weight, and the kit is built so that the platelet-rich part can be drawn off afterward. If you want the plain version of what PRP is, we wrote it up in what PRP therapy is, in plain terms.

FDA describes the physical parts of these systems in one line: “May include centrifuge, filters, tubes, syringes and needles.” Notice that the centrifuge is on that list. So the machine can be part of what FDA cleared, and in that case it is not a separate lab tool you pick on your own.

So ask three things about any PRP centrifuge. Ask whether the system’s instructions name that exact machine. Ask what speed and time the instructions give for the spin, and ask who services the machine and how often.

Some systems spin the blood once and some spin it twice, and our post on single spin and double spin preparation covers that difference.

What is the difference between an open and a closed system?

Vendors use the words open and closed all the time, and they do not always mean the same thing by them. Neither word appears in FDA’s listing for this device type, so read them as sales words until someone defines them for you.

Here is the plain meaning most people intend. In a closed system, the blood stays inside a sealed tube or device from the draw to the final syringe. In an open system, the blood or the plasma is exposed to room air at some step. That can happen when a cap comes off and the plasma is moved by hand.

Why does the difference matter? It matters because every exposed step is a step that depends on your technique and your workspace.

The word on the brochure does not settle it, because a system can be called closed and still have a step where a cap comes off. So ask the vendor to show you every step from the draw to the syringe, and count the moments when the blood is open to the air.

What does a 510(k) clearance cover, and how do I read it?

A 510(k) clearance covers one device, as its maker described it, for the use its maker stated. It does not cover PRP in general, and it does not cover every use you can think of.

How do you find it? FDA keeps a public 510(k) database, and its search form has a box for the 510(k) number and a box for the product code. The product code for PRP systems is ORG. Ask the vendor for the 510(k) number of the exact model, and look it up yourself.

What do you read when you find it? Look for the summary, and if the record has none, ask the vendor for the clearance letter. FDA’s rule says a 510(k) summary has to contain the name of the device, “a statement of the intended use of the device,” and a description of the device and how it functions.

Read those three parts, and ask one question of each.

• The device name tells you whether the record matches the model you were quoted.
• The intended use tells you what the maker told FDA the PRP is for.
• The device description tells you which parts belong to the cleared system, such as the centrifuge and the tubes.

Your system’s own wording may differ, which is why you read it. For the device type as a whole, FDA’s definition is the “preparation of autologous platelet rich plasma from a small sample of peripheral blood for mixing with bone graft to improve handling characteristics.” Autologous means the material comes from the patient’s own body.

That gives you the plain reading. The devices that prepare PRP are FDA cleared for use with bone graft material. Injecting PRP into joints, tendons, ligaments, skin or scalp is an off-label use. A cleared system in the room does not change that, and our post on whether PRP is FDA approved explains why.

What does PRP kit regulatory compliance mean for a clinic?

PRP kit regulatory compliance starts with three checks, and none of them is a sticker on a box.

The first check is the clearance itself. FDA says the 510(k) order “clears” a device for commercial distribution, and cleared is the word you want to see. Registered and listed are different words. FDA warns that “mere registration of an establishment or listing of a drug or device does not denote approval.”

The second check is how you use the system. Use the kit with the centrifuge and the settings its instructions name, use single-use parts once, and check the date on every box. If you want to change a step, ask the maker in writing first.

Why be that careful? FDA says a maker needs a new 510(k) when a change “could significantly affect the safety or effectiveness of the device” or when the device is marketed for “a new or different intended use.” That rule is written for makers, and it tells you how closely a clearance is tied to the device as it was described.

The third check is your own words. Never call a kit or PRP “FDA approved,” and say plainly that injecting PRP is an off-label use.

This is how I say it: “I don’t see compliance as a burden. It’s an advantage. If you have clarity on what you can and cannot say, then you know how to grow.”

What should I know about tubes and anticoagulant?

The tube is where the blood is spun, so it is not a small detail. In a PRP system the tube or the device that holds the blood is part of the kit, and the kit is what the clearance describes.

Ordinary lab tubes are a device type of their own. FDA’s rule describes a blood specimen collection device as one meant “to collect and to handle blood specimens and to separate serum from nonserum (cellular) components prior to further testing.”

Look at the last four words of that rule. A tube cleared under it is cleared for collecting blood that goes to a lab test. PRP is not a lab test, because it goes back into the patient. So do not assume a lab tube is cleared for making PRP, and ask which clearance covers the tube in your kit.

An anticoagulant is what keeps the blood from clotting before and during the spin. Some kits come with it already inside the tube, and others have you add it from a vial or a bag.

A solution that comes in its own vial or bag has its own label, and the label says what the solution is for. So use the anticoagulant that your system’s instructions name, and read its label before you stock it.

What blood draw supplies do I need?

Open a kit before you order anything else, because many of the draw supplies may already be inside it. Then fill the gaps from this list.

• A tourniquet and skin prep for the draw site.
• The needle or butterfly set that your kit’s instructions call for.
• Gloves and the other protective gear named in your exposure control plan.
• Gauze and a bandage for the arm after the draw.
• A chair or a table that lets the patient lean back during the draw.
• Labels, so every tube carries the patient’s name before it leaves the chair.

Do not skip that last line. PRP goes back into the person it came from, and a label is how you keep it that way on a day with more than one PRP patient.

The draw also puts your staff under a federal workplace rule. OSHA’s bloodborne pathogens standard says, “Engineering and work practice controls shall be used to eliminate or minimize employee exposure.” In plain words, the needles and the setup you choose are part of how you protect your staff.

What injection supplies and workspace do I need?

The injection supplies depend on what you inject, so this is the list to build with your instructor.

• Needles and syringes in the sizes your instructor uses for the areas you plan to inject.
• Skin prep and gloves for the injection site.
• Anything your own protocol adds, which is a clinical decision that belongs to you.
• A sharps container that is closable and puncture resistant.
• A clean, flat surface that is used for the kit and nothing else during the visit.

Where does the sharps container go? OSHA’s rule says it has to be “easily accessible to personnel and located as close as is feasible to the immediate area where sharps are used.” That means it sits within reach of the draw chair and the injection table, and not across the room.

The same rule calls for “handwashing facilities which are readily accessible to employees.” So look at where the sink is before you choose the room.

The workspace matters most at one moment, which is when the kit is open. Clear the surface, clean it between patients, and keep phones, charts and coffee off it.

When does ultrasound guidance come in?

Ultrasound comes in when an injection calls for guidance, and that is a clinical call that belongs to you, your training and your scope.

FDA describes the tool this way: “Ultrasound imaging (sonography) uses high-frequency sound waves to view inside the body.” Its list of uses includes “Ultrasound-guided needle placement (in blood vessels or other tissues of interest).” The same page says individual states regulate the use of diagnostic ultrasound through “recommendations and requirements for personnel qualifications.” So who may run the unit can be a state question too.

How do guidelines look at guidance? One example comes from the American College of Rheumatology’s 2026 update, which says, “In people with hip OA, we strongly recommend ultrasound guidance for intraarticular glucocorticoid injections.” OA is short for osteoarthritis, and a glucocorticoid is a steroid.

Be careful with that sentence, because it is about steroid injections and not about PRP. The same update says, “In people with knee and hip OA, we strongly recommend against PRP treatment.” We quote the first line only to show how a major guideline looks at a deep joint.

What does this mean for your shopping list? You do not need an ultrasound unit to learn the draw, the spin and the basics. Our Advanced PRP for Musculoskeletal Injuries course includes ultrasound guided approaches, and we have a post on ultrasound-guided injection techniques. Train on guidance before you buy a unit for it.

What should I not buy before I train?

Most of the list can wait until after you train. Here is what we would hold off on.

• A PRP system, if you have never run one with your own hands.
• A large first order of kits, because every box has a date on it and your first patients should be few.
• An ultrasound unit, until you know which injections you will do and that your training covers guidance.
• A platelet counter or any other add-on that is bundled into a starter package.

Think of the mattress you sleep on eight hours a day. A purchase like that deserves a real walk-through, and a PRP system is something your patients and your staff will live with every week. So handle one before you sign for one.

Providers also tell us that what was sold to them as training turned out to be a product pitch. A training day that ends with a purchase order was a sales meeting. It is fine to go to one, as long as you know that before you walk in.

Can I train on the system I already own?

Yes. We are not tied to any vendor. Bring the system you already own. We work with several suppliers, and we take no commission.

I started in this field in 2016, selling PRP kits to orthopedic, aesthetic and other practices. I am telling you that so you know which side of the table I started on. Regen Med Academy sells education and nothing else, which means we do not sell a device or a kit.

When you train on your own system, you learn the draw, the spin and the handling on the tool that will be in your room on Monday, with your own staff beside you. In our Introduction to PRP for Musculoskeletal Injuries course, the theory comes to you online and the hands-on day is in person.

What if you do not own a system yet? Then you train first and buy second. Training is hands-on with a consenting patient, under supervision, and every licensed person in the room performs within their own scope.

How do I add PRP to a medical practice without overbuying?

Let’s say you bought a practice last year, and there is a PRP centrifuge on a shelf that nobody has used since the last owner left. Do you have a PRP system? You do not know yet, and here is how you find out.

1. Read the make and model off the machine, and look up its 510(k) in FDA’s database.
2. Ask the maker whether it still sells the kits made for that machine.
3. Get the current instructions for use from the maker, and do not rely on an old binder.
4. Ask the maker how the machine should be serviced, and when it was last checked.
5. Compare your draw and injection supplies with the lists in this post.
6. Bring the system to training, and buy nothing else until the training is done.

Step two is the one that decides it. A centrifuge with no matching kits is only a centrifuge, and you are back to choosing a system.

The same order fits a practice that owns nothing. Read the clearance first and train second. Buy the system third, and buy the extras last, if you buy them at all.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use a regular lab centrifuge for PRP?

Read your kit’s instructions for use before you try. If they name a centrifuge and a spin setting, that machine and that setting are how the system was described to FDA. A general lab centrifuge may not match either one. Ask the maker in writing whether your machine is part of the cleared system, and keep the answer.

Is a more expensive PRP system a better one?

Price tells you what a system costs, and it does not tell you what is in the syringe. This post does not rank one system above another, and none of its sources does either. Compare the clearance, the instructions, the steps where the blood is exposed, the training that comes with it, and the cost of each kit.

Do I need a platelet counter?

It is not on the starter list above, and it raises a separate question. CMS says it “regulates laboratory testing performed on humans in the U.S.” through the CLIA program. Counting a patient’s platelets on a machine in your office is a test on a human sample. So ask the CLIA program what that takes before you buy a counter.

Is there a certificate of analysis for PRP?

No. A certificate of analysis belongs to donor-derived and manufactured products, which are made and numbered by the lot. PRP is prepared in the room from the patient’s own blood, so there is no lot of PRP for a lab to sign off on. The papers to ask a PRP vendor for are the 510(k) number and the instructions for use.

Does Regen Med Academy sell or recommend a PRP system?

No. We are an education company, and we sell education and nothing else. We take no commission from any supplier. If you ask us which system to buy, we will tell you what to read and what to ask, and the choice stays with you.

Key takeaways

• A PRP system is a centrifuge plus the single-use kits made for it, and the machine can be part of what FDA cleared.
• The words open and closed are sales words until a vendor shows you every step from the draw to the syringe.
• Look up the 510(k) for the exact model, and read the device name, the intended use and the device description.
• Even with a cleared system in the room, injecting PRP is an off-label use, because the devices are cleared for use with bone graft material.
• Do not assume a lab tube or any citrate solution is cleared or labeled for making PRP.
• Ultrasound is for injections that call for guidance, and you should train on it before you buy a unit.
• You do not have to buy a system before you train, and you can bring the one you own.

RMA disclosure

Regenerative Medicine Academy (RMA) is an education company. We train licensed providers in some of the techniques this post covers. This post is education only. It is not medical, legal, business, tax or financial advice.

It is your responsibility to confirm the modality is legal in your state for your license. Do that before you book.

Your next step

Before you buy anything, look up the 510(k) for the system you are thinking about and read its intended use. If you already own a system, bring it to training. See how our PRP training is set up, or request a date now and a person will read it and call you back within one business day. If you would like to start with the rules, get the free FDA course.