Posts Tagged ‘arthritis’

According to scientists, the commonly-used practice of injecting gold into knee for slowing down progression of arthritis and reducing the associated pain may not work equally effective for one and all. It was noted that all patients affected with osteoarthritis may not notice the same benefits.

Nearly 80 million people suffer from this condition and a further 350,000 people suffer from rheumatoid arthritis that is an autoimmune joint disease where the joints in the body become inflamed, according to the Arthritis Research Campaign.

From Bio-Medicine.Org:

Treatments include painkillers, steroids and joint replacement.

Gold has already been used in the past for rheumatoid arthritis and for other rheumatic diseases such as psoriatic arthritis, which also causes swelling and pain in and around the joints.

As many as half those patients with rheumatoid arthritis, especially those in the early stages of the condition, can benefit from gold, claim researchers at the University of Washington.

In some, it relieves joint pain and stiffness, reduces swelling and bone damage, and lowers the chance of joint deformity and disability.

It was concluded during the study that injecting gold into the knees cannot be termed as the same-treatment-for-all remedy since approximately 20 to 30 percent of the affected patients do not experience benefits from gold treatment.

The German biotech-company, Orthogen AG, has provided an substitute by offering the results of a new osteoarthritis trial with Orthokine.

It was remarked by Orthogen CEO Prof. MD. Peter Wehling in Dusseldorf/North-Rhine-Westfalia, that the Orthokine-therapy is safe as well as effective. It was also remarked that clinical results have suggested that the therapy results are far superior to those achieved using standard hyaluronic acid injection therapy and placebo.

From News-Medical.Net:

Ten to 20 percent of the population of western countries suffers from joint and spinal disorders. The therapies for these disorders are most expensive after circulatory and digestive diseases with a high market potential. According to official government statistics, orthopedic disorders cost EUR25 billion annually in Germany alone and approximately one-third of this amount is accounted by osteoarthritis. For many years now, musculoskeletal disorders have been the number one cause of work disability and the consequent economic loss in Germany.

“The problem with conventional OA-therapies such as painkillers, steroids and hyaluronic acid is that they act on the symptoms but leave the underlying causes of the disease untouched,” said Wehling, specialized in the role of cytokines in pain inhibition and tissue regeneration. In contrast Orthokine acts on the causal mechanism of arthritis and prevents further cartilage degeneration in the joints. “Orthokine could potentially become the new standard arthritis therapy,” Wehling said. Pharmacology experts also regard biologicals as the medications of the future.

The trial included 400 Patients and was realized in conformity with the international standards from Heinrich-Heine-University (Dusseldorf).

Steroids was first used to prevent the debilitating effects of arthritis during the late forties. During the subsequent decades, it was found to treat over 200 previously untreated conditions.

Half a century later, it continued to save many lives throughout the year from severe allergic reactions, asthma attacks, brain injuries and blood poisoning.

It drastically improved the quality of life of patients experiencing chronic itch due to eczema, bloody diarrhea because of colitis, and disabling aches and pains due to polymyalgia.

It has made its remarkable medical achievements during the post-war years in organ transplants and cure of childhood cancer. Patients who underwent organ transplants could tolerate the operation well enough and there would be lesser chances of organ rejection. Steroids also did wonders to relieve paralysis and prevent blindness.

Although referred to as the original wonder drug, steroids also have its own negative effects such as liver problems, kidney abnormalities and even death. However, the benefits still outweighs the hazards. Its therapeutic abilities prove to be endless.

Not only are steroids called as the original wonder drug because of its significant effects to the muscles and performance of athletes, but more so because of its endless therapeutic benefits to men and animals alike.

From Telegraph UK:

Steroids were the original wonder drugs. First introduced in 1948 for the treatment of crippling arthritis, they were found over the subsequent decade to ameliorate the symptoms of 200 previously untreatable conditions, transforming in the process the therapeutic possibilities of half a dozen specialties.