Intra-articular hyaluronan injections in the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee: a randomised, double blind, placebo controlled multicentre trial

Older patients with more advanced knee osteoarthritis (OA) seem to benefit the most from hyaluronan injections into the knee joint. Doctors gave five weekly injections of either hyaluronan or placebo into the knee joints of 240 patients with knee OA. Overall, both placebo and hyaluronan treatment groups showed improvement in pain and function scores. The only subgroup of patients that showed more improvement with hyaluronan rather than placebo injections was those over 60 years with advanced disease. There were no serious side effects reported with either treatment.