Evaluation of the effectiveness and safety of combined therapy with chondroitin sulfate and Revisk synovial fluid endoprosthesis in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee joints

Gonarthrosis is a chronic degenerative-inflammatory disease of the knee joint in which all components of the joint are affected. In current clinical guidelines for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee, the first step in therapy is the prescription of symptom-modifying drugs with delayed action. One of the most well-studied and effective of these drugs is chondroitin sulfate. A promising remedy for the treatment of gonarthrosis is intra-articular injections, primarily of high-molecular-weight hyaluronic acid preparations, which have proven effective in clinical practice. Their use at an early stage of the disease can contribute to a more complete implementation of the potential of these drugs. The purpose — to study the effect of the combined use of chondroitin sulfate and the Revisk synovial fluid prosthesis on reducing the severity of pain and improving functionality in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Material and methods. 60 patients with stage I–II gonarthrosis according to Kellgren-Lawrence, with intensity of pain according to VAS ≥ 50 mm, and with algofunctional Lequesne index ≥ 5 points were divided into three comparable groups of 20 people. All patients had no contraindications for intramuscular injection of chondroitin sulfate and intraarticular injection of hyaluronic acids, there were no anamnestic indications of their intolerance. In the comparison groups, patients received monotherapy with chondroitin sulfate intramuscularly (group 1) and hyaluronic acid 2.2% (group 2), in the main group, patients received combined therapy with chondroitin sulfate intramuscularly and Revisk intraarticular hyaluronic acid. The effectiveness of therapy was assessed by the dynamics of pain according to the VAS, the algofunctional index of Lequesne, the WOMAC index, and the EQ-5D questionnaire. Results. With the combined use of chondroitin sulfate and the Revisk synovial fluid prosthesis, a clinically more significant decrease in pain syndrome and an improvement in functional parameters were revealed than with monotherapy with chondroitin sulfate, and than with a single administration of hyaluronic acid preparations. At the end of the course of therapy, the severity of the pain syndrome decreased by 75.57%. Conclusions. The data obtained allow the use of both drugs in the complex therapy of knee osteoarthritis in patients with comorbidity. The combined use of chondroitin sulfate and Revisk synovial fluid prosthesis in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee joints reduces the severity of pain, improves functional activity, improves the quality of life of patients.