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Osteoarthritis

Is viscosupplementation really so unsafe for knee OA?

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The latest in a series of meta-analyses of trials assessing viscosupplementation for knee osteoarthritis is the first to raise concerns about its safety. Questions remain, however, regarding the methodological rigour with which the serious adverse events were analyzed, and the biological plausibility of the events reported.

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Acknowledgements

T. E. McAlindon is supported by funds from the NIH. R. R. Bannuru is supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (grant number F32HS021396). The content of this commentary is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH or the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Arthritis and Rheumatic Diseases, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, 02111, MA, USA

    Timothy E. McAlindon & Raveendhara R. Bannuru

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  1. Timothy E. McAlindon
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  2. Raveendhara R. Bannuru
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Correspondence to Timothy E. McAlindon.

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Competing interests

T. E. McAlindon has received speaker's bureau (honoraria) from Bioiberica and has acted as a consultant for Flexion Therapeutics and Sanofi-Aventis, but not with regard to any specific product discussed in this commentary. R. R. Bannuru declares no competing interests.

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McAlindon, T., Bannuru, R. Is viscosupplementation really so unsafe for knee OA?. Nat Rev Rheumatol 8, 635–636 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrrheum.2012.152

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