Active clinical trials for "Osteoarthritis"

Treatment for early osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee is an increasing problem yet much of the research into OA, to date, concentrates on predisposition, genetic and cellular aspects and the treatment of late stage disease (arthroplasty). Clinicians reviewing patients with early OA have great difficulty in recommending an appropriate and efficacious intervention. The first line of treatment for patients with early OA is exercise, self-management and weight loss. These tools are suggested to minimize the need for higher risk treatments such as non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and surgery. Viscosupplementation using intra-articular injections of hyaluronan (Synvisc One) is a relatively new treatment. To date, the ideal patient for viscosupplementation has yet to be defined. It is not known whether incorporation of viscosupplementation into the overall clinical management will have beneficial influence for patients with early OA of the knee. This study will generate rigorous pilot data to assess the need and inform a larger randomized controlled trial (RCT) assessing the efficacy of viscosupplementation. The study will be a single blind randomised RCT. 60 patients with documented early OA will be randomised into one of two groups; Group V will undergo "one shot" viscosupplementation using Synvisc One in addition to routine physiotherapy management for knee OA. Group No V (control) will have no viscosupplementation but will undergo similar routine management including physiotherapy management for knee OA. Outcome measures will include walking pain (The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index-WOMAC), the overall WOMAC score, Oxford Knee Score (OKS), American Knee Society score (AKS), complications, activity level and patient satisfaction. Health economics will also be evaluated. Measurements will be recorded pre-intervention and at six months following treatment. The risks associated with viscosupplementation are minimal. Considering the limited resources currently available in health care, if the latter is shown to have higher effectiveness than physiotherapy alone, in addition to patient benefit, there will be important health economic implications.

The use of chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine sulfate has been recognized since the 70 decade in the treatment of osteoarthritis. Numerous clinical trials have demonstrated the therapeutic properties of this association in control of osteoarthritis, especially in reducing pain and improving movement. The combination of chondroitin sulfate with glucosamine sulfate offers a significantly higher tolerance than most drug treatments and, moreover, has long lasting effects even after stopping treatment.

Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), laboratory analyses and patient reported outcomes, the overall aim of this study is to investigate structural injuries and biochemical alterations in the acutely injured knee and to relate these findings to clinical outcomes at various time points.

Osteoarthritis disables approximately 10% of people who are 60 years or older and compromises the quality of life of more than 20 million Americans every year. Osteoarthritis is caused by the breakdown of cartilage that lines the bones at your joints from daily wear and tear and results in pain and restricted function. Total hip arthroplasty (THA) or total hip replacement, is currently one of the most successful and cost-effective treatments used to eliminate pain and restore function in those suffering from osteoarthritis. There are multiple ways to perform a THA. The main difference between each type is the point of incision in relation to a muscle on the outer surface of your hip bone: gluteus medius. The incision performed can be anterior (in front of the muscle), anterolateral (in front and to the side of the muscle), or posterior (from the back). Each of these approaches has its own advantages and disadvantages, but there is no evidence available that makes one better than the other. The purpose of this study is to determine which of the three approaches to THA is the most effective. The main outcome that will determine the most effective approach is the functional ability of the patients included in this study at 52 weeks. The investigators will also compare whether the patient's: length of hospital stay, use of assistive devices, need for revision surgery, ability to return to work, ability to relieve pain, complication rate, and quality of life. The investigators hypothesize that the anterior approach will be the most effective approach in reducing the rate of post-operative complications after THA.

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a device that delivers cold and intermittent compression as compared to ice and compressive wraps on patients who have undergone knee replacement.

The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of a regular course of treatment with Hyaluronic acid (HA) injections on gait in knee osteoarthritis (OA) patients. Three consecutive HA injections will be compared to three consecutive placebo injections to determine whether HA's analgesic effect is greater than that of a placebo injection, and to observe whether HA's viscoelastic properties are manifested in a human knee OA population. We hypothesize that HA injections will relieve pain to a greater extent than placebo injections in knee OA patients, and will afford them with improved walking characteristics, such as increased walking speed, and step length.

A clinical trial to evaluate the long-term efficacy and safety of a CHONDRON (Autologous cultured Chondrocyte) for 48weeks, and additional 96weeks in patients with cartilage defects in their knees.

A clinical trial to evaluate the long-term efficacy and safety of Chondron (Autologous cultured Chondrocyte) administered through arthroscopy from the drug's 48 weeks efficacy and safety evaluation with 96 weeks follow-up in patients with knee cartilage defects.

Patients undergoing primary total knee replacement will receive either motor sparing knee block to be performed by anesthesia or periarticular local anesthetic infiltration at the end of surgery by surgeons to assess pain relief as well as capacity to ambulate early. The motor sparing knee block will be performed prior to surgery using ultrasonography and the effect of adding dexmedetomidine, an alpha 2 agonist to the injectate with regards to prolonging the duration of analgesia will be assessed.

Using double blind, randomized controlled design to study the immediate, short-term and intermediate-term therapeutic effects of ready-made full-length lateral wedged shoe insoles and customized full-length lateral wedged shoe insoles to patients with knee osteoarthritis, under the basis of International Classification Functioning, Disability and Health.