Abstract
BackgroundTo compare intra-articular (IA) knee injections of a cross-linked high-molecular-weight hyaluronic acid (HMW-HA) with a linear low-molecular weight HA (LMW-HA) in terms of pain and functional improvement among knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients.MethodsIn this single-blinded RCT, the patients were randomly divided into two groups for HA injections. The first group received an HMW-HA (Arthromac) injection, while the other received three weekly LMW-HA (Hyalgan) injections. Pain and function were assessed using the outcome measures including WOMAC, Lequesne and VAS indices, once prior to injection, as well as 2 and 6 months after injections.ResultsA total of 90 patients were included. There was no significant difference in baseline characteristics including age and sex between the two groups. Our analysis showed that total WOMAC, Lequesne and VAS mean scores remarkably improved at both follow-up time-points compared to the baseline measurements (p < 0.001). There was no significant superiority between the two therapeutic protocols according to our outcome measures at any time-point of follow-up. The only except was about the improvement in WOMAC stiffness subscale that was significantly higher in LMW-HA group compared to HMW-HA (p = 0.021). Moreover, no significant difference was observed in minor complications and injection-induced pain scores between the two groups.ConclusionThis study proved that a single HMW-HA injection is as effective as multiple injections of LMW-HA counterparts in periods of 2 and 6 months follow-up.This study protocol was registered in Iranian database of RCTs (IRCT; www.irct.ir) with the trial registration number IRCT20130523013442N24 and registration date 2018-07-13.
Highlights
To compare intra-articular (IA) knee injections of a cross-linked high-molecular-weight hyaluronic acid (HMW-HA) with a linear low-molecular weight HA (LMW-HA) in terms of pain and functional improvement among knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients
Many of international scientific associations have recommended Intra-articular hyaluronic acid (IA-HA) injections as part of knee OA treatment [13]. .HA has been compared with ozone [14], Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) [15], plasma rich in growth factor (PRGF) [16], and corticosteroid [17]
The other exclusion criteria were as the followings: breastfeeding or pregnancy, vascular collagen and immunodeficiency disorders, diabetes mellitus, a history of malignancy, body mass index (BMI) > 32 kg/m2, mal-alignment as genu varum or valgum greater than 20°, any knee trauma or intra-articular injection during the last 6 months, prior hypersensitivity reaction to avian products or egg protein
Summary
To compare intra-articular (IA) knee injections of a cross-linked high-molecular-weight hyaluronic acid (HMW-HA) with a linear low-molecular weight HA (LMW-HA) in terms of pain and functional improvement among knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients. Osteoarthritis (OA) has been known to be the most common articular disease [1]. Intra-articular injection, can be carried out using corticosteroid [6], hyaluronic acid (HA) [7], ozone [8], plasma rich in growth factor (PRGF) [9], and Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) [10]. Many of international scientific associations have recommended Intra-articular hyaluronic acid (IA-HA) injections as part of knee OA treatment [13]. .HA has been compared with ozone [14], PRP [15], PRGF [16], and corticosteroid [17] Many of international scientific associations have recommended Intra-articular hyaluronic acid (IA-HA) injections as part of knee OA treatment [13]. .HA has been compared with ozone [14], PRP [15], PRGF [16], and corticosteroid [17]
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