Abstract
This chapter reviews the benefits of corticosteroids (CS) and hyaluronic acid (HA) injections for the treatment of patients with knee osteoarthritis, and describes the outcomes associated with these interventions. CS provide significant, clinically meaningful pain reduction compared with saline-solution placebo at week 12. However, intra-articular CS, especially continuous intra-articular CS, may be associated with an increased risk of knee radiographic osteoarthritis progression. The available evidence reported for the clinical studies assessed demonstrates sustained and effective relief of knee osteoarthritis symptoms following a single injection of HA. In addition, an excellent biocompatibility profile is observed for HA as an intra-articular therapy for osteoarthritis, as reflected by the low rate of adverse effects associated with treatment. The co-injection of HA and CS provides a rapid improvement in pain relief, knee function, and range of motion, but does not differ significantly from that of HA alone in the long-term effect.
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Vaquero-Picado, A., Rodríguez-Merchán, E.C. (2020). Intra-articular Injections of Corticosteroids and Hyaluronic Acid in Knee Osteoarthritis. In: Rodríguez-Merchán, E., Gómez-Cardero, P. (eds) Comprehensive Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44492-1_3
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