EFFICACY OF WEEKLY INTRA-ARTICULAR LOW-MOLECULAR SODIUM HYALURONATE INJECTION FOR THREE WEEKS IN THE TREATMENT OF OSTEOARTHRITIS: OPEN, RANDOMIZED CLINICAL TRIAL

The primary objective of this study was to determine whether the three-weekly injectionsimprove knee pain and patients’ quality of life. The secondary objective was to assess patients’ compliance to treatment and risks related to the three-weekly injections of Hyalagan®.The authors conducted a single-blind randomized controlled trial. Osteoarthritisknee participants aged 50 years or older with Kellgren-Lawrence grade I to III or early osteoarthritis kneewere randomized to intra-articular injection of three-weekly doses (the intervention group; n = 50) or five-weekly doses of Hyalagan®(the control group; n = 50). The outcomes of the study were measured at baseline, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 8 weeks post-treatment. The weight-bearing after 50 foot-walking and patients’ quality of life at the baseline measured by visual analog scale(VAS) and Thai short form 36 (SF-36) health survey score were not significantly different between the two groups (p = 0.430 and 0.239, respectively). The VAS was statistically lowerat the 1st and 2nd week in the three-weekly intra-articularinjections group(p = 0.009 and 0.005, respectively). The evaluation of overall changes in the SF-36 scores also revealed that patients in the three weekly injection group had a higher quality of life compared to the other group (p = 0.0001). The numbers of loss to follow-up in the intervention group were significantly lower than the control group (2 cases vs.7 cases, p < 0.05) . And no complication related to intra-articular injection was found in the two treatment groups.In conclusion, the results of this present study support the hypothesized superiority of managing pain associated with knee OA and increasing patients’ quality of life in thethree weekly injections over the conservative management of the five weekly injections. More importantly, the safety of the treatment has been warranted.