[Efficacy of Ozone Infiltrations in the Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis Vs Other Interventional Treatments: A Systematic Review of Clinical Trials]

The effect of intra-articular ozone injection combined with home-based exercise on pain and function in daily living activities of patients with mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis, a randomized double-blinded controlled clinical trial

BACKGROUND

Knee osteoarthritis is the most common arthritis. Various treatments such as analgesics, exercise therapy, and surgery in high-grade OA have been shown to reduce pain and improve patients' function; however, determining the optimal treatment remains a challenge. Ozone therapy is one of the injection techniques used for symptom relief in these patients. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of ozone injection in mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis.

METHODS

Thirty-three patients with grade II-III knee osteoarthritis based on the Kellgren-Lawrence classification were involved in the study, by block randomisation. Totally 42 knees were included. All patients received exercise therapy, 500 mg of acetaminophen tablets (up to 2 g per day as needed), and healthy nutrition. In a double-blinded method, the intervention group received Ozone injections, but the control group received placebo injections. Functional tests, including timed-up-and-go and 6-min walk tests, were assessed at baseline and immediately after the 6-week intervention. In addition, the pain was measured by VAS score, and stiffness and activity of daily living (ADL) were evaluated by KOOS questionnaire before and after a 6-week intervention and then one and six months afterwards.

FINDINGS

Improvements in pain and KOOS scores were seen in both groups in the 6th week of injections (p < 0.05), with significant differences between groups. However, the effects on pain and KOOS scores disappeared in the 1st and 6th months of follow-ups in the control group. Nevertheless, the effects persisted in the intervention group compared to the baseline and control group, which means that in the mentioned time points intervention group showed significant improvement compared to the control group (p < 0.05). In addition, functional tests showed significant differences between the two groups in the 6th week of injections (p < 0.001).

INTERPRETATION

Ozone injection is a non-surgical treatment for mild to moderate knee osteoarthritis that could decrease pain and improve function and ADL of patients in the short to mid-term (3-6 months), so it seems that adding Ozone injection to the routine exercise therapy in management of patients with knee OA could improve outcomes.

Efficacy and safety of ozone therapy for knee osteoarthritis: an umbrella review of systematic reviews

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of ozone therapy (OT) in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis (KOA), which is the most common form of the disease. We analysed systematic reviews (SRs) of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) using the "A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews" (AMSTAR2) instrument to evaluate their quality. We developed a narrative synthesis report with eight SRs (15 RCTs/3,685 patients) to summarise the findings. The AMSTAR2 analysis indicated that all reviews had critically low confidence ratings. Statistically significant effects in pain reduction using OT compared to placebo groups were reported in three SRs. OT was shown to be comparable to other therapies in one SR and not superior in the other five. Six SRs highlighted the need for additional RCTs with improved methodological quality to confirm the efficacy of OT for KOA. SRs found fewer consistent effects for improving joint function. Regarding safety, seven SRs reported a low prevalence of minor adverse events linked with OT. Finally, this umbrella review highlights the beneficial effects and safety of OT in the treatment of KOA, particularly in pain control. The low methodological quality of RCTs and SRs limits the possibility of drawing conclusions on the effectiveness of the procedure in comparison to other therapies. Ensure adequate compliance with guidelines such as Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) and AMSTAR2 has the ability to improve the quality of SRs in this area.

Efficacy of ozone injections for reducing musculoskeletal pain in comparison with corticosteroid injections: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Corticosteroid injections are frequently used in the short-term treatment of musculoskeletal pain, but their use is controversial as repeated exposures to corticosteroids can lead to deleterious effects on musculoskeletal tissue. Ozone injections have been proposed as a possible treatment for musculoskeletal pain; however, their effectiveness has not been compared with corticosteroids.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the effectiveness of ozone injections for reducing pain in individuals with musculoskeletal pain in comparison with corticosteroid injections through a meta-analysis.

METHODS

An online systematic search was performed using electronic databases up to September 2023. We searched for studies that compared corticosteroid injections with ozone injections in the treatment of musculoskeletal pain of diverse origins.

RESULTS

Eleven studies were included comprising a total of 534 individuals. In the overall pooled analysis, a pain reduction in favor of corticosteroid injections was found in the short term (d= 0.31, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.60, p (z) 0.04, I2 = 32%). In the medium term, no significant differences were found in reducing pain between groups (d=-0.17, 95% CI -0.42 to 0.07, p (z) 0.15, I2 = 0%).

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest that corticosteroids injections are more effective in reducing musculoskeletal pain in the short term, but equally effective in the medium term when compared with ozone injections. Nonetheless, better-quality clinical trials are necessary to corroborate these results.

Ozone in Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy—Current State of Art, Possibilities, and Perspectives

Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is one of the most detrimental toxicity to a patient’s quality of life. Pathophysiological mechanisms involved in CIPN pathogenesis are complex, multifactorial, and only partially examined. They are suspected to be associated with oxidative stress (OS), mitochondrial dysfunction, ROS-induced apoptosis, myelin sheath and DNA damage, and immunological and inflammatory processes. Unfortunately, medications commonly used for the management of other neuropathic pain syndromes, including gabapentinoids, opioids, and tricyclic antidepressants (such as desipramine and nortriptyline), do not bring satisfactory results in CIPN. The aim of this review is to evaluate the existing literature on the potential use of medical ozone as a treatment for CIPN. This paper would explore the potential therapeutic benefits of medical ozone. The review would evaluate the existing literature on the use of medical ozone in other contexts, as well as its potential application in treating CIPN. The review would also suggest possible research methods, such as randomized controlled trials, to evaluate the efficacy of medical ozone as a treatment for CIPN. Medical ozone has been used to disinfect and treat diseases for over 150 years. The effectiveness of ozone in treating infections, wounds, and a variety of diseases has been well documented. Ozone therapy is also documented to inhibit the growth of human cancer cells and has antioxidative and anti-inflammatory effects. Due to its ability to modulate oxidative stress, inflammation, and ischemia/hypoxia, ozone may have a potentially valuable effect on CIPN.

The role of ozone treatment as integrative medicine. An evidence and gap map

Introduction

The Brazil has one of the largest public health systems in the world and in the 1980's, Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine were introduced. In 2018, the treatment with ozone became a complementary integrative practice showing several benefits. However, its effectiveness needs to be researched. The objective of this evidence gap map is to describe contributions of Integrative Medicines-Ozone treatment in different clinical conditions, to promote evidence-based practice.

Methods

We applied the methodology developed by Latin American and Caribbean Center on Health Sciences Information based on the 3iE evidence gap map. The EMBASE, PubMed and Virtual Health Library databases, using the MeSH and DeCS terms for the treatment with Ozone were used.

Results

26 systematic reviews were characterized, distributed in a matrix containing 6 interventions (parenteral oxygen/ozone gas mixture; parenteral ozonated water; systemic routes; topical application ozonated water; topical oxygen/ozone gas mixture; and topical ozonated oil) and 55 outcomes (cancer, infection, inflammation, pain, quality of life, wound healing and adverse effects). 334 associations between intervention and outcome were observed, emphasizing the parenteral oxygen/ozone gas mixture intervention (192 associations, 57%).

Conclusions

The evidence gap map presents an overview of contributions of Ozone treatment in controlling pain, infections, inflammation and wound healing, as well as increasing the quality of life, and it is directed to researchers and health professionals specialized in Ozone treatment. No serious adverse effects were related. Therefore, this treatment may be even more widely known as an integrative treatment, considering its low cost, efficiency and safety. Future studies should adopt economic impact assessments and the organization of health services.

Updated Review on Ozone Therapy in Pain Medicine

The use of medical ozone in the treatment of chronic pain is progressively expanding in Spain and today it is used both in public and private medical centers. However, there is a great lack of knowledge about this technology not only in primary care but also in medical specialties. Although its biochemical bases are well determined and there are various systematic reviews and meta-analyses in the literature that justify its use in pain medicine, some professionals still are prejudiced against it. The evidence level of using medical ozone according SIGN (Scotish Intercollegiate Guideline Network) criteria is similar or superior to most of the techniques used in a Pain Unit. In this paper, we have done a review on ozone therapy in pain medicine, compiling the evidence published about it.