Open AccessPages 41-46, Language: English, GermanManfredini, Daniele / Rancitelli, Davide / Guarda-Nardini, Luca
The aim of the present investigation was to compare the effectiveness of six treatment protocols providing TMJ arthrocentesis with or without additional drugs to manage symptoms in patients with inflammatory-degenerative TMJ disease over a three-months follow up period. Different combinations of single-needle and two-needle arthrocenteses, alone or with injection of corticosteroids or hyaluronic acid immediately following the joint lavage, were adopted in 72 patients. The protocol providing five weekly low-molecular weight hyaluronic acid injections, immediately following a classical two-needle arthrocentesis, was superior to all the other treatments to reduce pain-related symptoms in patients with inflammatorydegenerative TMJ disease. This was even if treatment effects were not significantly different with respect to those achieved with other protocols.
Keywords: arthrocentesis, inflammatory-degenerative disease, hyaluronic acid, temporomandibular joint, temporomandibular disorders