Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) may affect large and small joints and is common final pathway of large array of conditions. OA of the large joints includes mainly hip, knee, shoulder and ankle. The treatment of OA of the ankle is limited and the surgical treatment is usually salvage procedure as fusion. Therefore there is a need for an efficient conservative treatment of the ankle OA.

Aims: The objective of this clinical trial was to evaluate the symptomatic efficacy of intraarticular preparation containing Sodium Hyaluronate, in the treatment of OA of the ankle.

Methods: The study was conducted on patients who visited our out-patients clinic under the direct supervision of the principle investigator. The male or female patient aged between 30 and 80 suffering from osteoarthritis of the ankle joint of radiographic severity II or III or IV according to Kellgren and Lawrance, suffering from one or more of the following conditions of the ankle joint: swelling, tenderness or pressure, and/or pain on motion or at rest, who have clinical history of ankle pain for over 6 months.

Intraarticular injections of 25 mg Sodium-hyaluronate in 5 following weeks were administrated to 16 patients, 31–79 years old (average 43 years) suffering from pain in the ankle, 9 months to 27 years. 12 patients after operation, 4 with no trauma history.

Follow-up visits were performed 1,2,3,4,7 months post treatment and included clinical evaluation and score scale.

Results: Global assessment showed in 13 out of 16 patients improvement in the motion range (20%) and significantly reduction of the OA symptoms according to the score: 2–3 points improvement on each scale and according to the osteoarthritis ankle hindfoot score scale (100 points total): up to 20 points improvement. Seven months after the treatment, no decrease in the treatment efficacy has been shown.

Global assessment of 2 patients did not show any significant improvement after the treatment. One patient dropped off the study due to other operation.

Conclusions: Symptomatic relief of OA of the ankle can be achieved by admission of intraarticular preparation containing Sodium Hyaluronate.