Prospective Study on Functional Outcome of Intra Articular Hyaluronic Acid with Oral Glucosamine and Chondroitin Sulfate Compared to Intra Articular Hyaluronic Acid Alone for Treatment of Osteoarthritis of Knee Joint

Abstract

We studied the effect of combination of intra articular injection of hyaluronic acid plus oral glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate compared to intra articular injection of hyaluronic acid alone in treatment of knee osteoarthritis.In prospective comparative study 104 patients with knee osteoarthritis were randomized according to inclusion exclusion criteria into two groups to receive either, intra-articular injections of hyaluronic acid 25 mg plus oral combination of glucosamine 1500mg and chondroitin sulfate 645 mg daily for 1 year, or receive intra-articular injection of hyaluronic acid 25 mg alone. The patients were followed up for 12 months period. The primary outcome measurements were according to Lequesne's and WOMAC scores. In both group A and B significant reduction in the mean of both Lequesne's and WOMAC scores from baseline were seen at all follow up visit for 12 months. Also there were significant statistical differences at 12 months for both Lequesne's and WOMAC scores between group A and group B (p-value < 0.0001). No severe adverse events related to drugs were observed.We concluded that intra-articular injections of hyaluronic acid plus oral combination of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate for 1 year are superior to intra-articular injections of hyaluronic acid alone.