Comparison of three treatment protocols with intra-articular low or intermediate molecular weight hyaluronic acid in early symptomatic knee osteoarthritis

The Booster Effect of a Single Quarterly Dose of Hyaluronic Acid in Knee Osteoarthritis: Five-Year Results of a Registry-Based Study

Objective

Viscosupplementation by hyaluronic acid (HA) is well established non-surgical treatment of knee osteoarthritis (KOA). This registry-based study investigated the booster effect of a quarterly intra-articular single knee injection (30mg/2ml) for five years.

Methods

Sixty patients, including 29 males and 31 females, with a mean ± SD age 61.07 ± 9.15 with Kellgren-Lawrence grade I-III KOA, have been selected from a registry of interventional treatments for musculoskeletal pain conditions. To be eligible, patients had to be treated with a single quarterly intraarticular injection of HA with a follow-up of at least five years and assessed with Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC) and Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) at baseline and after each HA injection in the first 24 months and at 36, 48, and 60 months.

Results

Sixty of 63 patients enrolled in this study completed the 60 months of follow-up. Patients had a marked improvement in knee function and pain, expressed by the significant reduction in WOMAC (T0 48.62±8.95 vs. T11 10.75±4.36; p<0.0001) and NRS scores (6.38±1.06 vs. T11 0.95±0.89 p<0.0001) from the baseline to the end of the follow-up period.

Conclusion

A quarterly injection of HA provides a rapid, safe, and stable long-term reduction of pain and improvement of function in elderly people with mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis along a five-year period of treatment and follow-up. Further investigations are necessary to confirm these findings.

Health Economic Evaluation of a High and Low Molecular Weight Hyaluronic Acid Formulation for the Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis. Post Hoc Analyses from a Randomized Clinical Trial

INTRODUCTION

In a recent randomized placebo-controlled trial, a single intra-articular injection of a high and low molecular weight hyaluronic acid formulation (HA-HL) was shown to be effective in providing a clinically meaningful reduction in pain and functional limitation up to 24 weeks in subjects with painful knee osteoarthritis (OA). The objective of this post hoc analyses is to assess the cost-effectiveness of HA-HL compared with placebo using individual patient data from this clinical trial in a Swiss health care perspective.

METHODS

A total of 692 patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria were randomly allocated to HA-HL or placebo groups. Each patient received one intra-articular injection of HA-HL or placebo at baseline and was then followed-up for a total duration of 24 weeks with five follow-up visits (i.e., after weeks 1, 6, 12, 18, and 24). The EQ-5D-5L five-point verbal Likert scale was used to calculate the health utility and the related quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) using the area-under-the-curve (AUC) method. For the costs, the price of HA-HL in Switzerland was used. The primary threshold for the incremental cost/effectiveness ratio (ICER) below which HA-HL was considered as cost-effective was 91,540 Swiss francs (CHF) per QALY (i.e., US $100,000).

RESULTS

No significant difference between the baseline characteristics of the HA-HL group and the placebo group was observed. With a mean ICER of 27,212 CHF per QALY (95% CI 20,135-34,289), HA-HL was considered as cost-effective compared to placebo. Sensitivity analyses (e.g., using lower or upper limit prices or using other threshold values) gave similar results, i.e., ICERs far below the threshold values of cost-effectiveness.

CONCLUSIONS

These results confirm the role of HA-HL as a cost-effective therapeutic option in the management of OA. However, more studies taking into account the utilization of other health care resources are needed.

Systematic Literature Review and Expert Opinion for the Use of Viscosupplementation with Hyaluronic Acid in Different Localizations of Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a significant cause of disability. Considering the increasing diffusion of the viscosupplementation (VS) with hyaluronic acid (HA), the International Symposium Intra Articular Treatment (ISIAT) appointed a Technical Expert Panel (TEP) to identify the criteria for successful VS with a specific HA in OA; this through a systematic literature review (SLR), performed following the PRISMA guidelines interrogating Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Grey Matters and American College of Rheumatology (ACR/EULAR) databases and the opinion of international experts. The research included only studies on adults and humans without limitations of language or time of publication. Researchers extracted both quantitative and qualitative data from each study. Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) was used to perform quality analysis for the level of evidence. The SLR retrieved 385 papers, 25 of which were suitable for the analysis. The TEP focused on the different formulations of the product Sinovial^® [HA 0.8%, HA 1.6%, HA 2%, 800–1200 kDa, HA 3.2% (1400–2100 kDa/65–110 kDa)]. The choice was due to the vast amount of evidence available. The TEP weighed the evidence in two rounds of a Delphi survey; the results, and any disagreement, were discussed in a final session. Three domains were considered: 1) the patients’ characteristics associated with the best results; 2) the contraindications and the conditions linked to increased risk of failure; 3) the clinical conditions in which VS is considered appropriate. The TEP concluded that VS with HA is safe and effective in the treatment of knee and hip OA of grades I to III and that it is possible to undertake VS in other situations (eg grade IV Kellgren-Lawrence – KL); a comprehensive examination of the patient should be performed before the procedure.