American College of Rheumatology regulatory update

The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) provided updated clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA), including new recommendations for OA of the knee. The updated guidelines "conditionally" recommend the use of topical and oral NSAIDs to initially manage knee OA, along with acetaminophen, tramadol and intra-articular corticosteroid injections. The guidelines also "strongly" recommend the use of oral or topical NSAIDs or intra-articular corticosteroid injections in patients with an unsatisfactory clinical response to full-dose acetaminophen, and the use of topical over oral NSAIDs in patients >=75 years old. The updated guidelines, which were approved and issued by ACR's subcommittee on osteoarthritis guidelines, were published in Arthritis Care & Research. ACR last published guidelines for OA treatment in 2000. ...