Have you had any experience with Synvisc ?

I’ve injected it, but I’ve not had it injected.

So would you recomend it then @Rarebear?

As treatments for knee arthritis go, it’s pretty benign. Some people report benefit from it.

Is there any advantage to still using the three injection method as opposed to just one (which I assume is newer)?

My best friend did the three injection. They did one knee (to make sure he didn’t have a reaction), the next two times they did both knees and the final appointment was to catch up the last knee so that each had had three injections. He has no cushion whatsoever in his knees and got some limited benefit. Last I asked, he said he would consider doing it again if possible.

That’s good to know. According to Xrays I have no cartilage left either and the two previous Doctors I asked about it kept telling me it wouldn’t do any good.

Of course they were both surgeons so…

I guess it’s the old analogy about if you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail :). But I still find it annoying that they wouldn’t give me a straight answer.

I’ve only used the 3 injection method. I don’t know anything about the 1 injection method.

You’ve really got nothing to lose by trying it, except the remote chance of infection. But frankly it doesn’t work all that well, so your surgeons did well to hedge.

@Rarebear

In the reading I’ve done, they aren’t really clear about exactly what it is about Synvisc-one which enables getting by with only one injection.

They had one brief paragraph about the difference between Synvisc and Snvisc-one. All it said was that the former required three injections while the latter achieved the same estimated 6 mos. of relief with only one injection. Well, duhh.

They don’t give any more detail than that from what I could tell. Why would they be that nebulous about it? Or did I just miss it? I don’t commonly read medical stuff, so…...

Hopefully, because youre more experienced at it, you can suss out precisely WHY ?

I mean, if I could get the same results from one shot as opposed to three, what would be the downside.

www.synviscone.com

Honestly, I don’t know. I have no experience with the Synvisc One, and the first I’ve heard about it is from you. I’ve only used the three shots. If it were me I’d try the one shot.

That’s what I’m inclined toward but the Doctor I’m currently seeing has me scheduled for the first of a series of three about a month from now.

If I’m going to make a request to him to depart from that, I’d be more comfortable basing it upon something better than a nebulous little paragraph merely stating the obvious from the company’s website ~

I’m having trouble trying to figure out why they wouldn’t give more specific info.

The only thing coming to mind is that it’s a site for the public with stuff dumbed down to LCD status.

Is there a different site only accessible to Medical professionals or something where they really give out the straight scoop?

This is puzzling.

There are plenty of sites that doctors have access to. It’s not that lay people don’t, it’s just professional websites. Chances are that it’s just a new product and there is not a lot on it studied yet.

@Buttonstc I found the following info (essentially synvisc is to delay knee replacement). I think this pretty well sums it up:

So where does this leave patients? No study has shown that Synvisc injections are an effective treatment in a large number of patients over a long (more than one year) length of time. That said, Synvisc injections have been shown to be of temporary benefit in some patients. Most promising are studies demonstrating that Synvisc injections delay the need for knee replacement in patients with severe arthritis.

Furthermore, no study has found serious adverse side effects associated with the use of Synvisc injections in the knee joint. When reactions to Synvisc injections occur, they tend to be flare-ups of knee inflammation, that usually settle down within a few days. These flare-up reactions occur in about 3% of all injections of Synvisc. Therefore, treatment has been shown to be safe, and there is potential that patients can find pain relief from Synvisc injections.

@Kayak

Yes, that seems to be the general consensus on the whole issue.

I’m guessing that the difference between Synvisc-One vs. the regular must be either the amount or strength of the solution. But I don’t know why they wouldn’t just come out and say that.

I’m going to call the Doctor’s office and see what they have to say.

It just makes sense to me that if one shot can produce the same results as three, it would lessen the remote chance of infection further.