[Comparing the efficacy and safety of diclofenac and piascledine in patients with knee osteoarthritis]

ABSTRACT

Osteoarthritis [OA] is the most common rheumatologic disorder and the knee is the most involved joint. There are several medications suggested to treat knee OA, each of them has some advantages and disadvantages. The goal of the current study was to compare the effect of piascledine and diclofenac on pain and function of the patients with knee OA. In this clinical trial, 60 patients with knee OA were randomly divided into two groups piascledine [300 mg daily] and diclofenac [25 mg three times a day]. Patients were treated for 8 weeks. WOMAC score was completed for each patient, and pain was measured using VAS pre- and post-medication. Before the treatment the mean WOMAC score was 53.7 +/- 3.1 in piascledine group and 54.2 +/- 2.9 in diclofenac group; which increased to 64.3 +/- 4.1 and 62 +/- 4.4 after treatment, respectively. The mean WOMAC score was significantly higher in the piascledine group [P<0.05]. The mean of VAS in piascledine and diclofenac group was 6.5 +/- 2.2 and 7.1 +/- 2.1 pre-medication which decreased to 4.2 +/- 1.1 and 4.5 +/- 1.4 post-medication, respectively. There was not a statistically significant difference between the two groups after treatment in the means of VAS. No side effect seen in neither of the groups. Due to improvement in WOMAC score and better patient compliance because of once daily intake, piascledine can be an efficient substitute to NSAIDs in treatment of knee OA