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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - European researchers are recommending that injections of a product called hylan into the knee joint should not be used to osteoarthritis, based on the results of a systematic review of clinical studies.
The findings, reported in the medical journal Arthritis and Rheumatism, indicate that hylan is no more effective than the older agent hyaluronic acid, but is more likely to cause side effects and increases the risk of disease flare-ups.
Hylan is a modified form of hyaluronic acid which, due to its greater viscosity, was thought to remain in the joint longer, resulting in greater efficacy. Whether this is the case was unclear, but some researchers have reported an increased incidence of local side effects after using hylan.
To compare hylan with hyaluronic acid, Dr. Peter Juni, from the University of Berne in Switzerland, and colleagues analyzed data from 13 trials involving a total of 2085 patients.
There was little or no evidence that hylan was more effective than hyaluronic acid in treating knee osteoarthritis, the report indicates. In addition, using hylan rather than hyaluronic acid roughly doubled the risks of local adverse events and disease flares.
Given these results, Juni's team concludes, "We discourage the use of intraarticular hylan in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee in clinical research or practice."
SOURCE: Arthritis and Rheumatism, December 15, 2007.
