Efficacy of intra-articular hyaluronic acid in patients with osteoarthritis of the ankle: a prospective study

Efficacy of intra-articular hyaluronic acid in patients with osteoarthritis of the ankle: a prospective study

Article specifications

This clinical trial was published in 2006 in journal of Osteoarthritis and Cartilage (IF 2006:4.165) by Taiwan orthopedics. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy, safety and the duration of treatment effectiveness of intra-articular hyaluronic acid in patients with ankle osteoarthritis (OA). 75 patients with unilateral ankle pain for at least 6 months (34 females; 41 males) and had either reported no significant benefit from conservative treatment (including medication, physical modalities, various stretching or strengthening exercises, etc.) or were unable to tolerate side effects of medications, with an average age of 50.2 _ 14.3 years were recruited in the study. After five weekly intra-articular HA injections, the Ankle Osteoarthritis Scale (AOS), the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) ankle/hindfoot score, ankle sagittal range of motion (ROM), patients’ global satisfaction, local adverse events and consumption of rescue analgesics were analyzed.

Results

The results of the study showed that five weekly intra-articular injections of HA provide pain relief and functional improvements in patients with unilateral Kellgrene-Lawrence grades I and II ankle  OA. The clinical effect was rapid at 1 week and may last for 6 months or more. Significant improvement in AOS and AOFAS ankle/hindfoot scores was noted at 1 week, 1 month, 3 months and 6 months post the fifth injection