Abstract
Aims: To investigate the clinical and radiological (MRI) effectiveness of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Therapy (NMRT) on mild to moderate degenerative knee osteo-arthrosis (OA).
Methods: A double blind randomised control mono-centric study of 100 volunteer patients with mild to moderated knee OA. All patients underwent clinical examination, pain was recorded on visual analog scale (VAS) and Oxford knee score and WOMAC osteoarthritis index at baseline and at follow up intervals (1 week, 1 month, 3 months and 6 months). The treatment group (n=50) received five sessions of one hour NMRT on five consecutive days. Radiological assessment included baseline standing plain radiograph of the knee joint (AP and Lateral views) and positional MRI scan which was repeated at 3 months. Cartilage thickness in weight bearing areas and bone and cartilage MRI score (BAC-MS) were used to assess response of the cartilage to NMRT. Data was analysed using SPSS 16.0 software and non-parametric tests.
Results: Ninety six patients completed six months follow-up. The treatment and placebo groups were comparable except that the male: female ration was 1:1 and 1:2 respectively. No adverse effect was reported during the study. The treatment group showed mean increase of 4° in the range of movement at 6 six months, which was statistically significant (p=0.01). There was no difference in other outcome variables at any time interval between the two groups.
Radiologically, BAC-MS and cartilage thickness at three months had no significant difference between treatment and placebo groups (p-value = 0.81 and 0.88 respectively). The change in BAC-MS and cartilage thickness at 3 months was also not significant (p-value = 0.09 and 0.41 respectively).
Conclusion: Five 1 hour sessions of NMRT is a safe mode of treatment, but has no radiological (at 3 months) and clinical (6 months) beneficial effect on mild to moderate Knee Joint Osteoathrosis.
The abstracts were prepared by Mr Matt Costa and Mr Ben Ollivere. Correspondence should be addressed to Mr Costa at Clinical Sciences Research Institute, University of Warwick, Clifford Bridge Road, Coventry CV2 2DX, UK.
