Efficacy and safety of knee osteoarthritis treatment with ketorolac trometamine gel in elderly patients

Abstract

Introduction: Main OA symptoms are pain and limitation of joint movements. So, tasks of OA therapy are decreasing pain intensity, preserving functional abilities of the joint and slowing disease progression. Purpose: To evaluate efficacy and safety of knee osteoarthritis (KOA) topical treatment with ketorolac trometamine (KT) in elderly patients. Methods: 50 patients aged 50-69 years (men and women) with KOA were divided into 2 groups: Group I (30 patients) was assigned for KT therapy and Group II (20 patients) was assigned for diclofenac sodium (DS; 5% gel); drugs in both groups were applied on knee joint 3 times daily during 14 days. “Ketorol-Gel” gel (Ketorolac tromethamine 2% gel; KT), manufactured by Dr Reddy's Laboratories Limited, India, was used in the study. Dynamics of pain syndrome intensity and functional condition of knee joints were examined by WOMAC scale. Results: In comparison to baseline, KT therapy reduced intensity of pain syndrome (by 18.4% on treatment day 5, by 35.3% on day 10, by 55.8% on day 15), stiffness (by 14.8% on day 5, by 26.2% on day 10, by 46.8% on day 15), and improved functional abilities (by 5.7% on day 5, by 16.7% on day 10, by 43.0% on day 15) in patients with KOA (P<0.05 in all cases). Comparison of efficacy of treatment in both Groups on 5, 10, 15 days showed no significant (P>0.05) differences. Onset of analgesic effect of KT was faster in comparison with DS: dynamics of pain syndrome intensity reduction was 17.4% and 7.3% respectively on the 2nd treatment day; 19.5% and 11.6% respectively on the 3rdtreatment day; 20.2% and 12.7% respectively on the 4th treatment day (P<0.05 in all cases). Conclusions: KT application is an effective method of KOA treatment, safety of its use along with its high analgesic potency and faster onset of analgesic effect allow to recommend topical KT for the treatment of patients with KOA.