Comparison of intra-articular oxygen-ozone and hyaluronic acid prolotherapy on pain and disability of osteoarthritis patients

Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is one of the most common diseases in the world that not only has surgical treatment, but also numerous medical drug treatments. The object of this study is to assess the effect of two medical treatments with use of mixture of oxygen-ozone and hyaluronic acid on pain and disability of patients with KOA. In a randomized clinical trial, 60 patients with KOA (30 in O2-O3 mixture group and 30 in hyaluronic acid group) were assessed. In ozone group 8ml mixture of O2-O3 with 15 mic/ml and in hyaluronic group, 2 ml solution with 2 million units hyaluronic acid was injected intra-articularly. This procedure was repeated 3 weeks and VAS score and WOMAC questionnaire were completed for them. The data were analyzed with SPSS 16 software and with the use of MANN-U WHITNEY with a p<0.05 were assessed. The severity of base pain (VAS Base) at O2-O3 group was 8.3+/-0.8 and at hyaluronic group was 8.07+/-0.13 (p<0.05). The severity of pain at first and second months after the last injection in O2-O3 group was 5.43+/-1.43 and 2.63+/-1.12 (p<0.0001) and in hyaluronic group was 5+/-1.31 and 2.97+/-1.24 (p<0.0001), but no difference between two groups. The number of WOMAC base at O2-O3 group was 62.7+/-8.3 and at hyaluronic group was 60.3+/-10. This number at first and second months after the last injection in O2-O3 group was 42.2+/-9.8 and 24.8+/-8.5 (p<0.001) and in hyaluronic group was 42.13+/-10.9 and 26.6+/-9.8 (p<0.001), but no difference between two groups. It is assumed that use of medical treatments for pain and disability control due to KOA are effective but there is no difference between two methods of O2-O3 mixture and hyaluronic acid.