Laser Therapy in Knee Osteoarthritis: An Experimental Study

Abstract

Aim: In this study, it is aimed to examine the effects of Infrared Gallium-Arsenic (Ga-Ar) laser therapy in rat osteoarthritis (OA) model that is formed chemically on the knee joint cartilage.

Material and methods: Fifty-six female Wistar Albino rats having weights between 250 and 300 grams were used and the rats were divided in 3 groups. Group 1 and group 2 are the control (C) groups. In group 1 (C-1), 0.9% saline solution was aplied to the left knee joint of 32 rats and in group 2 (C-2), 1 mg monoiodoacetate (MIA) is applied to the right knee joint of the same 32 rats. Group 3 is the experimental (E) group and in this group, 1 mg MIA application to the right knees of 24 rats.  Ga-Ar laser therapy was started after 24 hours for group 3 and it was applied for 15 days with 24-hour intervals. In all 3 groups, knee bending test was applied daily. Euthanasia was applied on 1st,7th and 15th days to 8 rats in C-1 and C-2 and on 7th, 15th and 30th days to 8 rats in group E. Their knee joints were removed, and they were histopathologically assessed under a light microscope.

Results: As a result of the statistical assessment, in the assessment between the total scores between C-1 and C-2 groups, scores of the C-2 group were found higher at all the time points (p=0.001, p=0.002). Also when the E and C-2 groups were compared, no statistically significant difference was observed (p>0.05). There was no correlation

between the pain assessment of knee bending test and the level of histopathological findings.

Conclusions: We found no effect of laser therapy in the treatment of early knee osteoarthritis.