Abstract:

Objective: Knee osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease that occurs due to degeneration of the cartilage tissue and is characterized by pain, stiffness, and limitation of movement that causes functional impairment. This study aimed to examine the effect of intra-articular cortisone injection on pain and functionality with a retrospective review. Methods: Data of 102 patients treated with triamcinolone acetonide for symptomatic knee osteoarthritis were retrospectively reviewed. Data were obtained from the medical records of the patients injected with 40 mg/month (for 2 months) cortisone. The patients were divided into three groups according to the severity of the Lequesne Functionality Index-LFI scores, demographics and functional status were evaluated. Assessments were repeated at baseline and at the end of 2 months. The groups were compared according to the sub-headings of the index: pain, walking distance, and activities of daily living. Results: The functional impact intensity of the groups increased with age. When compared intra-group analysis, significant improvements were observed in pain, walking distance, daily life activities, and total LFI scores of all groups after second doses of injections (p<0.05 for all). In the inter-group analysis, there was no difference between the severe handicap and very severe handicap groups in terms of the above parameters (p>0.05). The most significant differences were between individuals with severe handicaps and individuals with an extreme severely handicaps (p<0.05 for all). According to the regression analysis; 29.80% of the effect on activities of daily living can be predicted by the pain in the very severe handicap group. Conclusion: Intra-articular cortisone is an easily accessible, low-cost, effective method that can be applied in individuals with high symptom severity to reduce these symptoms.

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