Introduction
Polyacrylamide hydrogel (PAAG) was trialed recently to treat osteoarthritis (OA) in horses with encouraging results; however no comparative field-study was done to explore its clinical efficacy. We hypothesized that lameness related to fetlock (metacarpo/metatarso-phalangeal) joint OA would improve significantly after treatment with PAAG when compared with a standard Triamcinolone acetonide-Hyaluronic acid (TA-HA) treatment.
Materials & Methods
A controlled clinical trial was conducted involving horses with symptomatic O4 in one of the fetlock joints. The diagnosis of OA was based on clinical evaluation, intra-articular anesthesia and imaging (radiography. MRI) Horses were assigned to a treatment group (PAAG) or control group (TA-HAj, including follow-up clinical evaluations at 13. and 5 months. Variables associated with the outcome measured
“lameness scoring” were analyzed using a generalized linear mixed model for ordinal regression.
Results
Of the 40 horses meeting the inclusion criteria. 20 were assigned to the treatment group, and 20 to the contro group. At 1, 3 and 6 months, estimated proportions of sound horses were 5586, 65% and 75%, respectively in the treatment group, and 15%6, 40% and 35%, respectively in the control group. No adverse-effects of PAAG were detected. Est mated odds ratio for a lower lameness score between groups wes 92 (p=0 001] and strongly indicates that the treatment of O.A using FAAG is significently better than the control treatment (TA-HA).
Discussion/Conclusions
Horses with fetlock joint OA treated with intraarticular
PAAG demonstrated a significant reduction in lameness when compared with horses treated with TA-HA (p-0.001).
No adverse reactions following joint injection was observed in the treatment group, which is consistent with previous studies using PAAG intraarticularly to treat DA. PAAG is a promising new treatment for OA in horses
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