Abstract
Background:
Degenerative osteoarthritis of the knee (OA) affects 35% of persons older than 65 years. If pain persists after non-invasive treatment, some intra-articular drugs can be tried before surgical treatment.
Questions/Purposes:
The purpose of this article is to review the literature after 2006 with the aim of answering two questions: (1) Are intra-articular injections of corticosteroids (CS), hyaluronic acid (HA) and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) effective in painful knee OA? and (2) Which of these drugs is more effective?
Methods:
The search engines were MedLine and the Cochrane Library. The keywords used were: knee, osteoarthritis, and intra-articular injections. Eight hundred and forty-four articles were found but only 142 had been published after 2006. Of those, only 14 were selected and reviewed because they were strictly focused on the topic and the questions of this article.
Results:
The clinical efficacy of intra-articular injections of HA and CS in patients with knee OA has been demonstrated. Pain reduction after three to five weekly injections of HA lasts between 5 to13 weeks (sometimes up to 1 year). Pain reduction is less durable after CS injections (2 to 3 weeks). Recent reports indicate that PRP could have a better performance than HA in younger patients.
Conclusions:
Three to five weekly intra-articular injections of HA are recommendable in patients with knee OA before surgical treatment. CS injections have a very short effect. The efficacy and duration of PRP injections require further studies.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Altman RD, Rosen JE, Bloch DA, Hatoum HT. Safety and efficacy of retreatment with a bioengineered hyaluronate for painful osteoarthritis of the knee: results of the open-label Extension Study of the FLEXX Trial. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2011;19:1169–75.
Bannuru RR, Natov NS, Dasi UR, Schmid CH, McAlindon TE. Therapeutic trajectory following intra-articular hyaluronic acid injection in knee osteoarthritis—meta-analysis. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2011;19:611–9.
Bellamy N, Campbell J, Robinson V, Gee T, Bourne R, Wells G. Intraarticular corticosteroid for treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006; (2):CD005328.
Bellamy N, Campbell J, Robinson V, Gee T, Bourne R, Wells G. Viscosupplementation for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2006; (2):CD005321.
Filardo G, Kon E, Pereira Ruiz MT, Vaccaro F, Guitaldi R, Di Martino A, Cenacchi A, Fornasari PM, Marcacci M. Platelet-rich plasma intra-articular injections for cartilage degeneration and osteoarthritis: single- versus double-spinning approach. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc. 2012; 20(10):2082–2091
Foti C, Cisari C, Carda S, Giordan N, Rocco A, Frizziero A, Della Bella G. A prospective observational study of the clinical efficacy and safety of intra-articular sodium hyaluronate in synovial joints with osteoarthritis. Eur J Phys Rehabil Med. 2011;47:407–15.
Huang TL, Chang CC, Lee CH, Chen SC, Lai CH, Tsai CL. Intra-articular injections of sodium hyaluronate (Hyalgan®) in osteoarthritis of the knee. a randomized, controlled, double-blind, multicenter trial in the Asian population. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2011 Oct 6;12:221
Kon E, Mandelbaum B, Buda R, Filardo G, Delcogliano M, Timoncini A, Fornasari PM, Giannini S, Marcacci M. Platelet-rich plasma intra-articular injection versus hyaluronic acid viscosupplementation as treatments for cartilage pathology: from early degeneration to osteoarthritis. Arthroscopy. 2011;27:1490–501.
Maheu E, Zaim M, Appelboom T, Jeka S, Trc T, Berenbaum F, Maasalu K, Berenbaum F. Comparative efficacy and safety of two different molecular weight (MW) hyaluronans F60027 and Hylan G-F20 in symptomatic osteoarthritis of the knee (KOA). Results of a non inferiority, prospective, randomized, controlled trial. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2011;29:527–35.
Navarro-Sarabia F, Coronel P, Collantes E, Navarro FJ, de la Serna AR, Naranjo A, Gimeno M, Herrero-Beaumont G; AMELIA study group. A 40-month multicentre, randomised placebo-controlled study to assess the efficacy and carry-over effect of repeated intra-articular injections of hyaluronic acid in knee osteoarthritis: the AMELIA project. Ann Rheum Dis. 2011;70:1957–62.
Pavelka K, Uebelhart D. Efficacy evaluation of highly purified intra-articular hyaluronic acid (Sinovial(®)) vs hylan G-F20 (Synvisc(®)) in the treatment of symptomatic knee osteoarthritis. A double-blind, controlled, randomized, parallel-group non-inferiority study. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2011;19:1294–300.
Ringdahl E, Pandit S. Treatment of knee osteoarthritis. Am Fam Physician. 2011;83:1287–92.
Shimizu M, Higuchi H, Takagishi K, Shinozaki T, Kobayashi T. Clinical and biochemical characteristics after intra-articular injection for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee: prospective randomized study of sodium hyaluronate and corticosteroid. J Orthop Sci. 2010; 15:51–6.
Spaková T, Rosocha J, Lacko M, Harvanová D, Gharaibeh A. Treatment of knee joint osteoarthritis with autologous platelet-rich plasma in comparison with hyaluronic acid. Am J Phys Med Rehabil. 2012;91:411–7.
Disclosures
The author certifies that he has no commercial associations (e.g., consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/licensing arrangements, etc.) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rodriguez-Merchan, E.C. Intra-articular Injections of Hyaluronic Acid and Other Drugs in the Knee Joint. HSS Jrnl 9, 180–182 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11420-012-9320-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11420-012-9320-x