Clinical comparison of oral administration and viscosupplementation of hyaluronic acid (HA) in early knee osteoarthritis.

Article specifications

This randomized comparative clinical trial was published in 2017 in Musculoskeletal surgery journal (IF 2015:1.81) by Italian orthopedics. Between August 2015 and September 2015, 60 patients (32 males and 28 females) between 40 and 70 years old were randomly allocated into two groups: Half were treated with three weekly intra-articular injections of hyaluronic acid 1.6 % (group A), while the others were treated with Syalox 300 Plus^® (hyaluronic acid 300 mg + Boswellia serrata extract 100 mg) 1 tab/die for 20 days and afterward Syalox 150^® (hyaluronic acid 150 mg) 1 tab/die for other 20 days (group B). All patients were evaluated clinically with American Knee Society Score (AKSS) and visual analogue scale (VAS) for the pain before the treatment and after 3 months. The subjects included included were affected by knee degenerative OA grade I or grade II according to Kellgren and Lawrence classification.

Results

AKSS of the patients in both groups was significantly increased by the treatment, and VAS score was significantly reduced. In both groups, two subgroups were created with patients older than 60 years and patients younger than 60 years. Better results are reported in younger patients of group A and older subjects in group B. the results of the study have shown that HA injection and oral administration may have beneficial therapeutic effects on patients with early osteoarthritis. Different outcomes in younger and older subject suggested a combined therapy first with local infiltrations and then with oral composition.

Tags: Italy Musculoskeletal surgery Clinical trial 2017