Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2024 Sep 25;14(5):1970-1996.
doi: 10.3390/clinpract14050157.

The Potential of Intra-Articular Therapies in Managing Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review

Ciprian Vasile Pojala  1 , Sebastian Toma  1 , Cristea Costache  1 , Tunde Peter  1 , Cristiana Elena Pojala  2 , Nadinne Alexandra Roman  1 , Lorena Dima  1
Affiliations
Review

The Potential of Intra-Articular Therapies in Managing Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review

Ciprian Vasile Pojala et al. Clin Pract. .

Abstract

Background: Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a common degenerative and progressive joint disorder that negatively influences patients' quality of life. Intra-articular therapies, such as hyaluronic acid (HA) and platelet-rich plasma (PRP), have garnered attention for their potential to manage osteoarthritis OA symptoms effectively. This systematic review aims to identify the effectiveness and safety of HA and PRP treatment modalities in treating KOA.

Methods: A literature search was conducted across MEDLINE (PubMed), Web of Science Core Collection, and Science Direct Collection Elsevier. Twenty-three randomized controlled trials, cohort studies, and observational studies were included in the review. The selection criteria focused on studies published in English within the last 10 years, involving subjects with KOA treated with intra-articular injections of HA or PRP and reporting on pain, function, or overall treatment efficacy outcomes.

Results: The analysis showed that both HA and PRP significantly improve functionality and reduce pain in KOA patients. High molecular weight HA consistently reduced pain and improved joint mobility in various studies. PRP had better long-term outcomes when combined with HA, leading to greater pain reduction and functional improvement. Both therapies had generally favorable safety profiles, with only minor adverse events reported. However, there were potential biases identified across the studies, such as selection, performance, detection, and reporting biases, which impacted the reliability of the results.

Conclusions: Intra-articular treatments with HA and PRP show promise in managing knee osteoarthritis, with personalized treatment plans and further research needed to confirm these findings.

Keywords: hyaluronic acid; knee; osteoarthritis; platelet-rich plasma.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Diagram flow of the search strategy and study selection.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Quality analysis of the revised studies [51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,69,70,71,72,73].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Safiri S., Kolahi A.-A., Smith E., Hill C., Bettampadi D., Mansournia M.A., Hoy D., Ashrafi-Asgarabad A., Sepidarkish M., Almasi-Hashiani A., et al. Global, regional and national burden of osteoarthritis 1990–2017: A systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. Ann. Rheum. Dis. 2020;79:819–828. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2019-216515. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mallio C.A., Bernetti C., Agostini F., Mangone M., Paoloni M., Santilli G., Martina F.M., Quattrocchi C.C., Zobel B.B., Bernetti A. Advanced MR Imaging for Knee Osteoarthritis: A Review on Local and Brain Effects. Diagnostics. 2023;13:54. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics13010054. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Safari R., Jackson J., Sheffield D. Digital Self-Management Interventions for People With Osteoarthritis: Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis. J. Med. Internet Res. 2020;22:e15365. doi: 10.2196/15365. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kumar T., Pandey V., Kumar A., Elhence A., Choudhary V. Quality of life and self-reported disability in patients with osteoarthritis: Cross-sectional descriptive study. J. Educ. Health Promot. 2023;12:81. doi: 10.4103/jehp.jehp_1055_22. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hunter D.J., Bierma-Zeinstra S. Osteoarthritis. Lancet. 2019;393:1745.e59. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(19)30417-9. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources