To investigate the clinical effects of acupuncture combined with cocktail therapy in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis (KOA) with limited arthroscopic debridement.

From January 2012 to June 2014, 68 cases with KOA of Kellgren & Lawrence (K-L) stage one and two in department of orthopaedics of Dongzhimen Hospital, were treated with limited debridement under knee arthroscope. Among them, group A used "cocktail (200 mg ropivacaine, 5 mg epinephrine, 1 mg betamethasone diluted in 100 ml saline)" lavage fluid assisting arthroscopic limited debridement combining post-operative acupuncture treatment; group B used simple arthroscopic limited debridement combining postoperative acupuncture; group C was treated with a cocktail lavage solution and limited debridement with arthroscopy; and group D was treated with limited debridement arthroscopic treatment. Each group included 17 cases. The visual analogue scale (VAS) score, the short-form health survey (SF-36) score and the Lysholm knee score were compared between preoperative time point and at the postoperative one month, three months, six months and 12 months. The postoperative symptom relief and joint function improvement of the four groups were also compared. Repeated measurement of variance analysis and chi-square test were used for statistical analysis.

The VAS score, SF-36 score and Lysholm knee functional score were significantly different comparing the data before and after the operation in the four groups (P<0.05). At postoperative one month, three months, six months and 12 months, the evaluation scores among the four groups also showed significant differences (P<0.05). Compared with group B, VAS scores (t=3.728), SF-36 scores (t=5.409) and Lysholm knee functional scores (t=5.385) of group A were significantly improved (P<0.05). Compared with group C, VAS scores (t=2.812), SF-36 scores (t=10.653) and Lysholm scores (t=12.160) of group A were also significantly improved (P<0.05). Compared with group C, VAS scores (t=6.603), SF-36 scores (t=17.04) and Lysholm scores (t=23.835) were significantly improved in group A after the operation (P<0.05).

Acupuncture combined with cocktail therapy in arthroscopic limited debridement in the treatment of KOA, can significantly alleviate the clinical symptoms, improve joint activity function, showing better curative effect than simple debridement, also increase patient satisfaction, promote the early rehabilitation of joint function, which is worthy of recommendation for the therapy of KOA.