Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most prevalent chronic degenerative joint disorder worldwide and is associated with significant pain, disability and economic impact on society. The primary objective of the present research is to validate the hypothesis that combination of intraarticular injection of ozone and steroid has better outcome than using ozone alone in patients with primary knee OA.

Cohort comprises of 80 patients of American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) I and II between age 45 and 70 years of either sex with primary knee OA with radiographic evidence (grade 0, I, and II; Lawrence and Kellgren radiological criteria) of severity of knee joint. The patients were randomized to receive single intraarticular injection of either ozone alone or combination of ozone with steroid. All patients were assessed using Western Ontario and McMaster University Osteoarthritis (WOMAC) index, and the visual analog pain scale (VAS) at 1, 3, and 6 months of follow-up. Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) for Windows software was used for data management and statistical analysis. The level of significance was set at 0.05 for all statistical tests.

Both the group treated with the combination of ozone and steroid and the group treated with ozone alone demonstrated improvements from baseline parameters. At 1 month patients in both group showed significant improvement in VAS and WOMAC (p < 0.05). Group treated with combination of ozone and steroid showed significant difference (p < 0.05) with respect to WOMAC, or VAS results at the end of 6 months of follow-up.

Ozone treatment was highly effective in relieving pain and improving functional outcome in patients with primary knee OA. Significant differences were detected between patients treated with intraarticular injections combination of ozone and steroid and those treated with the ozone alone with respect to pain relief or function at 6 months of follow-up.

Chansoria M, Upadhyay S, Panwar S, Shivhare P, Vyas N. Comparative Efficacy of Intraarticular Injection of Combination of Ozone and Steroid and Ozone alone in Patients with Primary Knee Osteoarthritis: A Prospective, Randomized Clinical Analysis. J Recent Adv Pain 2016;2(1):11-14.