Scandinavian journal of rheumatology
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Scand. J. Rheumatol. · Jan 1997
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical TrialLocal NSAID gel (eltenac) in the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee. A double blind study comparing eltenac with oral diclofenac and placebo gel.
In a randomized, double blind, multicentre study with 4 weeks follow-up of 290 patients with osteoarthritis of the knee joint, a topical NSAID (eltenac) was compared with oral diclofenac and placebo. The main outcome, Lequesne's Index and pain by VAS showed no statistically significant differences between neither of the active treatments and placebo for the total study population. ⋯ Local skin reactions were twice as frequent in the eltenac than in the placebo group. Taking into account the nature of the treatment for a chronic disease like OA, our results indicate that eltenac gel could be a safe alternative to oral NSAIDs.