Efficacy of Diclofenac for treating hand osteoarthritis

Topical Diclofenac reduces inflammation/swelling in hand osteoarthritis, with greater relief in more affected areas.

Synovitis, characterized by inflammation in joint synovia, is a key feature of osteoarthritis (OA). In this pilot study, the effectiveness of Diclofenac when used topically on synovitis in hand OA was evaluated via the Fluorescent Optical Imaging (FOI) technique compared with the traditionally used MRI and Ultrasonography (US).

Ten patients suffering from symptomatic hand OA were asked to use topical Diclofenac for a period of 14 days. Synovitis was assessed using FOI, MRI, and US at the start, day 8, and day 15. Subjective pain was also recorded. Changes in synovitis were evaluated for all joints and specifically for the two most affected joints.

Semi-quantitative analysis indicated a modest decrease in synovitis with all imaging methods. FOI revealed a reduction of 21.1% and 34.2% in synovitis for the two most affected joints on Days 8 and 15, respectively. Quantitative FOI analysis showed reductions of 17.8% and 42.4% for the same days. Further, subjective pain decreased by 7.2 mm on day 8 and 13.3 mm on day 15.

Topical Diclofenac effectively reduces swelling (inflammation) in the synovial membrane in hand OA, with FOI providing both semi- and fully quantitative evidence of its efficacy.