Introduction: The biochemical markers of the connective tissue metabolism in blood serum may characterize the disturbances in inflammatory, destructive processes, and also serve the criteria for diagnostic evaluation of the state of cartilage and bone tissue of the joints in knee osteoarthritis to control the effectiveness of conservative treatment. The aim: determination of biochemical markers of connective tissue metabolism in the blood of patients with the 1st and 2nd stages of knee osteoarthritis in order to prove the effectiveness of the complex conservative treatment of patients with the use of low-intensity infrared laser radiation.
Materials and methods: During the study we examined 80 patients with the 1st and 2nd stages of knee osteoarthritis according to the Kellgren and Lawrence classification. Some patients were prescribed diclofenac sodium and glucosamine hydrochloride, others were prescribed an additional course of laser therapy.
Results: At the end of the treatment the group of patients with knee osteoarthritis who were treated with the use of laser therapy, diclofenac sodium and glucosamine hydrochloride, showed a decrease in the content of the following blood serum components: glycoproteins (by 28.9 %), sialic acids (by 28.8 %), chondroitinsulfates (by 91.3 %) due to chondroitin-6-sulfate, activity of alkaline phosphatase (by 36.1 %) compared with the indicators before treatment.
Conclusions: a more significant decrease in the inflammation and destruction of the cartilage tissue of the affected joints was observed during knee osteoarthritis treatment with the use of laser therapy than without it.