title: Viscosupplementation for treating knee osteoarthrosis: review of the literature.
abstract: The aim here was to evaluate the evidence that might support or refute the use of intra-articular viscosupplementation in treating patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthrosis. A review of the literature was conducted using the Medline, PubMed and Cochrane Controlled Trial Register databases and Cochrane database systematic reviews (Cochrane Library). Only studies presenting a high level of evidence were taken into consideration. This study included analysis on randomized clinical trials that included at least 100 patients in each intervention group, meta-analyses and systematic reviews. Two meta-analyses, five systematic reviews and six randomized clinical trials fulfilled the inclusion criteria for this review. In the light of the best evidence available so far, there is no consensus for indicating or even for contraindicating the use of intra-articular viscosupplementation among patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthrosis (level of evidence I and degree of recommendation A). Further studies with appropriate methodology are needed to elucidate this matter.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ortopedia e Traumatologia de Passo Fundo, Passo Fundo, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Tiago Youssef
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Ammar
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ortopedia e Traumatologia de Passo Fundo, Passo Fundo, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Tomas Araujo Prado
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ortopedia e Traumatologia de Passo Fundo, Passo Fundo, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Saulo Luís Lopes
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Mistura
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ortopedia e Traumatologia de Passo Fundo, Passo Fundo, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kuhn
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ortopedia e Traumatologia de Passo Fundo, Passo Fundo, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: José Idilio
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Saggin
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ortopedia e Traumatologia de Passo Fundo, Passo Fundo, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Osmar Valadão
authors.initials: OV
authors.lastname: Lopes Júnior
keywords: Hyaluronic acid; Knee; Osteoarthritis; Viscosupplementation