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Hyaluronic Acid for the Treatment of Osteoarthritis in all Joints Except the Knee: What is the Current Evidence
BioDrugs, 03/13/2012
Clinical Article
Colen S et al. – The recommendation for future research is that one should focus on adequately powered randomized trials comparing hyaluronic acid (HA) treatment with other types of intra–articular or conservative treatment. The authors think it is useless to further perform and publish (large) non–comparative prospective studies about the use of HA in the treatment of problems caused by OA. It is well perceived that HA exerts positive effects in the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA), but up to now there is no (strong) evidence available that HA is superior to other treatments of OA such as corticosteroids, physiotherapy or other conservative measures.
Methods- A systematic review was conducted using databases including MEDLINE, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Cochrane Clinical Trial Register, and EMBASE.
- After performing a solid systematic review using a rigid methodology and trying to pool the outcomes of different studies, the authors noticed that, compared with baseline, there is statistical evidence for a positive effect of intra–articular HA.
- However, there is limited evidence HA is superior to placebo and no evidence that intra–articular HA is better than corticosteroids or other conservative therapies.
