Background: Local infiltration with corticoids is a simple therapy for rheumatic disorders devoid of systemic adverse reactions.
Aim: To compare the efficacy of two betametasone preparations from two different pharmaceutical laboratories in the treatment of patients with osteoarthritis or epicondylitis.
Patients and methods: Fourty patients with knee osteoarthritis and 12 patients with epicondylitis were studied. Using a double blind protocol, one of the two betametasone preparations was used for local infiltration of the lesions. The change in a global score of clinical variables including pain and disability was assessed after 30 days of the infiltration.
Results: In patients with osteoarthritis, the global score decreased significantly with both preparations, but no differences were observed between preparations (7.3 +/- 1.8 to 3.9 +/- 2.3 with preparation A and 7.8 +/- 1.9 to 3.6 +/- 2.3 with preparation B). In patients with epicondylitis, pain was also significantly reduced but no differences between preparations was observed (7 +/- 2.1 to 1.4 +/- 2.5 for preparation A and 4.6 +/- 2.8 to 1.2 +/- 1.6 for preparation B).
Conclusions: Local infiltration with both betametasone preparations was equally effective in the treatment of patients with knee osteoarthritis or epicondilytis.