A 40-month multicenter, randomised placebo controlled study to assess the effiacy and carryover effect of repeated intra-articular injections of hyaluronic acid in knee osteoarthritis: the AMELIA project.

The efficacy and carryover effect of repeated intra-articular injections of hyaluronic acid in knee osteoarthritis: the AMELIA project

Article specifications

This multicenter, randomised placebo-controlled study was published in 2011 in journal of Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (ARD) (IF 2016: 12.81) by Spanish orthopedics. This study included 203 patients with knee osteoarthritis of radiological grades II–III (Kellgren– Lawrence) and joint space width ≥2 mm. which divided in 2 groups: 109 patients received four cycles of five intra-articular injections of 2.5 ml 1% sodium hyaluronate with a mean molecular weight of 900,000 Daltons. And 94 patients received four cycles of five intra-articular injections of placebo injections, with a follow-up of 6 months after the first and second cycles, and 1 year after the third and fourth cycles. Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) 2004 responder criteria were used to assess efficacy. The consumption of rescue medication was a secondary outcome. Adverse events were recorded for safety purposes.

Results

The results of the study showed that repeated cycles of intra-articular injections of HA not only improve knee osteoarthritis symptoms during the in-between cycle period but also exert a marked carry-over effect for at least 1 year after the last cycle.