Could Ozone Be Used as a Feasible Future Treatment in Osteoarthritis of the Knee

Abstract

Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most disabling and incapacitating diseases on the autonomy of older people, affecting their quality of life. OA produces great impact on pain, function and use of resources, being considered as an important problem of Public Health. OA is a degenerative and progressive disease without treatment nowadays. The goals in OA treatment are to ameliorate symptoms and diminish articular damage. In knee OA, there is destruction of cartilage and subchondral bone, with the consequent narrowing of articular space. Knee OA is multifactorial. Besides the bio mechanic factors, trauma and obesity; it is believed that inflammation plays an important role. Future treatments should act on the regulation of inflammation to diminish progression of OA. There is evidence on several studies and years of experience that state that Ozone acts on the modulation of inflammation. The objective of this paper is to review the main pathophysiological mechanisms involved in knee OA, and to postulate ozone as a promising and ideal conservative treatment, since it could act on several therapeutic targets, besides inflammation.