International Task Force Recommends Intra-articular Hyaluronic Acid for Knee OA

A workgroup of clinical experts developed an Appropriate Use Criteria (AUC) for IAHA treatment of knee OA, published in Cartilage in 2016, that outlined appropriate, uncertain or inappropriate patient scenarios for use of IAHA. Six were scored as appropriate, 10 as uncertain, and one as inappropriate.⁷ The six clinical scenario for appropriate use include symptomatic adults with mild or moderate OA of the knee who have clinically and radiologically confirmed disease who have not received other therapies for the knee, have failed other nonpharmacologic or pharmacologic therapies for the knee or have had an incomplete response to other therapies for the knee.

The task force contends that IAHA “is not a panacea for treating a heterogeneous disease such as knee OA.” However, because knee OA mostly affects the elderly and patients with significant comorbidities and with conditions that can restrain the use of several conventional therapeutics, IAHA can be a “key weapon in the therapeutic armamentarium for managing knee OA in patients with contraindications to conventional interventions.”

Kathy Holliman, MEd, has been a medical writer and editor since 1997.

References

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