RESEARCH - Injection to restore joint fluid viscoelasticity not effective for hip osteoarthritis

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Injection to Restore Joint Fluid Viscoelasticity Not Effective for Hip

Osteoarthritis

By Todd Neale, Staff Writer, MedPage Today

Published: March 05, 2009

Reviewed by Dori F. Zaleznik, MD

PARIS, March 5 -- For patients with osteoarthritis of the hip, a

single intra-articular injection of hyaluronic acid was no better than

placebo at reducing pain, a randomized trial showed.

Other outcomes, including stiffness, disability, and the use of

analgesics and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, were similarly

unchanged with active treatment, Pascal Richette, M.D., Ph.D., of the

Assistance Publique-Hopitaux de Paris, and colleagues reported in the

March issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism.

They said that, because of the rapid clearance of hyaluronic acid from

the synovial fluid compartment, a single injection might not be

sufficient to elicit clinically meaningful improvement.

" Future studies are warranted to confirm our results and to evaluate

the effects of repeated hyaluronic acid injections in hip

osteoarthritis, " they said.

Injectable hyaluronic acid (Synvisc, Hyalgan) has been shown to be

effective for osteoarthritis of the knee and is approved by the FDA,

but its use remains controversial, the researchers said. (See:

Sparring Over Pecking Order for Arthritis Injection Therapy and FDA

Approves Local Therapy for Knee Osteoarthritis)

It is meant to restore the viscoelasticity of synovial fluid, and

studies have suggested that it " could have protective effects on

cartilage extracellular matrix and could reduce the production and

activity of proinflammatory mediators and matrix metalloproteinases, "

they said.

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Read the full article here:

http://www.medpagetoday.com/Rheumatology/Arthritis/13138

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