What is the evidence for viscosupplementation in treating osteoarthritis of the shoulder?
Summary
Patient Population:
No information on the patient population was provided.
Intervention:
Dose not reported. Most common approach used was posterior. One prospective study examined the use of injection with fluoroscopic guidance. The single RCT described either 3 or 5 injections administered at 1 week intervals. The prospective studies delivered 2 or 3 injections at various intervals ranging from 3 days to 2 weeks.
Comparison:
The authors identified a total of 6 studies examining the use of HA injections for the treatment of OA of the shoulder. One study was a RCT (n=660), the remainder were single-group prospective studies.
Outcome:
- Pain: In the RCT there was a significant difference in pain outcomes reported after a regimen of either 3 or 5 injections administered at 1 week intervals compared to no treatment at 3 month follow-up.
- Pain: 2 of the prospective studies were able to be pooled together and were associated with a significant reduction in pain over time, however, there was no comparison group.