In March 2022 a research team (1) suggested that one injection of hyaluronic acid (Synvisc-One®) would be offers benefit to patients for up to one year. In this study while the researchers noted that intra-articular hyaluronic acid injections have been widely studied with variable and conflicting results fifty patients in their study saw “Short-term (up to one year) beneficial effects of intra-articular viscosupplementation with hyaluronic acid in early primary knee osteoarthritis (which) can be seen with a decreasing trend in the intensity of pain and an increasing trend in improving the physical functioning and health-related quality of life.”
A May 2022 paper (2) wrote: “The utilization of hyaluronic acid for the management of knee osteoarthritis remains controversial . . ” The purpose then of this study was to evaluate changes in overall utilization and health-care costs associated with hyaluronic acid injections among Medicare beneficiaries over a contemporary time frame.”
What the researchers found was that between 2012 to 2018 total hyaluronic acid injection increased significantly this despite the 2013 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons clinical practice guideline recommending against the clinical utility of these injections, hyaluronic acid injections continued to be widely implemented among Medicare beneficiaries.
1 Acharya K, Si V, Madi S. Improvement in condition specific and generic quality of life outcomes in patients with knee osteoarthritis following single intraarticular viscosupplementation injection. Journal of Clinical Orthopaedics and Trauma. 2022 Apr 1;27:101828.
2 Zhu KY, Acuña AJ, Samuel LT, Grits D, Kamath AF. Hyaluronic Acid Injections for Knee Osteoarthritis: Has Utilization Among Medicare Beneficiaries Changed Between 2012 and 2018?. JBJS. 2022 May 18;104(10):e43.
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