Benefits of arthritis shots challenged
Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, December 16, 2003
CHICAGO — Government-approved treatments for knee arthritis in which the joint is injected with fluid often made from rooster combs offer little if any relief, researchers say.
Doctors should think twice about recommending hyaluronic acid treatments, which cost at least $100 per injection, said Dr. Grace Lo of Boston University, who led the analysis of 22 published studies.
The analysis found that the injections performed only slightly better than dummy treatments.
Lo said even those results may be overstated, because studies with positive results are more likely to be published than those with negative ones, and the researchers found at least two unpublished studies showing that hyaluronic acid performed no better than dummy treatments.
The analysis appears in today’s Journal of the American Medical Association.
The foundation and the American College of Rheumatology have supported the use of such products for certain patients.
The treatment, sometimes called joint fluid therapy, generally involves three to five weekly injections in a doctor’s office. The injections are intended to replace the natural fluid that helps lubricate the knee joint.
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