[Drug therapy of arthroses]

Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common diseases requiring treatment. A clear clinical and pathophysiological understanding of the disease is required before treating a patient with OA. Drug therapy of patients with OA is mainly divided into two groups: a group receiving symptomatic therapy and a group receiving drugs intended to modify or improve the disease. Symptomatic therapy includes pure analgesics as well as non-steroidal antirheumatic drugs and muscle relaxants. Their use depends on the activity as well as on the form of clinical manifestation (activated/decompensated disease). If there are signs of severe activation, intra-articular steroids, orgotein or even synoviorthesis with yttrium are administered as local therapy. All of these therapies are used in the sense of trouble shooters, as they cannot alter the course of the disease in the long run. The disease-modifying substances have well been investigated in vitro and in animal models. Furthermore, some clinical trials have shown evidence for the usefulness of these substances in the therapy of OA.