Viscosupplementation for grade II osteoarthritis of the ankle: a prospective study at 18 months’ follow-up

Abstract

Viscosupplementation, with hyaluronan derivates injected into the intra-space of osteoarthritic joints, is now widely used for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. This study evaluates the results in terms of pain and disability of intra-articular injections of hyaluronan derivates into the ankle joint in patients suffering from grade II primary or secondary osteoarthritis of the ankle. Twenty-one patients with a painful ankle and radiographic evidence of grade II osteoarthritis had three weekly intra-articular injections of 2 ml of hylan G-F 20 (10 mg/ml) into the ankle joint. The primary clinical outcome measurement was the ankle osteoarthritis score (AOS) at the baseline, and at 6, 12 and 18 months. Significant improvement of the AOS from baseline was seen after 6 months (p=0.0001). This improvement was maintained over time with no further changes at 12- and 18-month follow-ups. Regarding pain, the AOS improved over time from the baseline to the 18-month follow up and became statistically significant at the 12- and 18-month follow-ups (p<0.05).