Increased cartilage volume after injection of hyaluronic acid in osteoarthritis knee patients who underwent high tibial osteotomy

Article specifications

This clinical Trial was published in 2014 in Journal of knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc (IF 2014:3.053) by Thailand specialists. The aim of this study was to evaluate cartilage volume after injection of hyaluronic acid in osteoarthritis knee patients. Forty patients with medial compartment knee osteoarthritis (OA) were randomly placed into 1 of 2 groups. The study group (n=20) received 2 cycles (at 6-month intervals) of 5 weekly intra-articular hyaluronic acid injections after HTO operation.

Results

MRI studies showed a significant increase in total cartilage volume (p=0.033), lateral femoral cartilage volume (p=0.044) and lateral tibial cartilage volume (p=0.027) in the study group. Cartilage volume loss was detected at the lateral tibial plateau in the control group. Based on the findings of the present study, intra-articular hyaluronic acid injections may be beneficial for increasing total cartilage volume and preventing the loss of lateral tibiofemoral joint cartilage after HTO.