Hyaluronic acid for the treatment of osteoarthritis in all joints except the knee

Hyaluronic acid for the treatment of osteoarthritis in all joints except the knee: what is the current evidence?

Article specifications

This systematic review was published in 2012 in Journal of BioDrugs. (IF 2012: 3.55) by Belgium specialists. A systematic review was conducted using databases including MEDLINE, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Clinical Trial Register, and EMBASE.

 

Result

Our recommendation for future research is that one should focus on adequately powered randomized trials comparing HA treatment with other types of intra-articular or conservative treatment. We think it is useless to further perform and publish (large) non-comparative prospective studies about the use of HA in the treatment of problems caused by OA. It is well perceived that HA exerts positive effects in the treatment of OA, but up to now there is no (strong) evidence available that HA is superior to other treatments of OA such as corticosteroids, physiotherapy or other conservative measures.