Effects of nimesulide on pain and on synovial fluid concentrations of sp, il-6, and il-8 in patients with knee osteoarthritis: comparison with celecoxib

Abstract

We compared the effects of two NSAIDs, nimesulide (100 mg twice a day) and celecoxib (200 mg once a day), on pain and synovial fluid concentrations of inflammatory pain mediators in twenty patients with knee OA with joint effusion in a controlled, double-blind, parallel group study. Plasma and synovial fluid concentrations of nimesulide, after a single and a repeated (14 days) dose, were also measured. The analgesic effect of nimesulide was more marked than for celecoxib. The percentage of patients who reported good or very good analgesic efficacy was 70% in the nimesulide group and 40% in the celecoxib group. After treatment with nimesulide the synovial fluid concentrations of SP and IL-6 were significantly lower than those measured at baseline. Nimesulide was shown to rapidly reach effective concentrations both in plasma and synovial fluid. The present results provide a new evidence that nimesulide is an effective agent for the treatment of painful OA, and may help explain the rapid onset of the analgesic action of this NSAID in patients with joint pain.

Keywords

• Knee osteoarthritis
• interleukin-6
• nimesulide
• pain
• substance P