Surgery Versus No Surgery for Osteoarthritis (OA) of the Knee

Arthroscopic vs. Non-surgical Treatment of Osteoarthritis of the Knee

The purpose of this study is to discover whether arthroscopic surgery is helpful in controlling the symptoms of osteoarthritis of the knee.

Although arthroscopic surgery has been widely used for osteoarthritis of the knee, scientific evidence to support its efficacy is lacking. This study will compare optimized physical and medical therapy alone with arthroscopic treatment in addition to optimized physical and medical therapy.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Idiopathic or secondary osteoarthritis of the knee with Grade II to IV radiographic severity as defined by the modified Kellgren and Lawrence classification

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients with inflammatory or post-infectious arthritis
• Those who had undergone previous arthroscopic treatment for knee osteoarthritis
• Those with isolate Grade III to IV medical compartment osteoarthritis with greater than 5 degrees of varus deformity.