Two years follow-up study of the pain-relieving effect of gold bead implantation in dogs with hip-joint arthritis

Abstract: “Seventy-eight dogs with pain from hip dysplasia participated in a six-month placebo-controlled, double-blinded clinical trial of gold bead implantation. In the present, non-blinded study, 73 of these dogs were followed for an additional 18 months to evaluate the long-term pain-relieving effect of gold bead implantation. The recently published results of the six-month period revealed that 30 of the 36 dogs (83%) in the gold implantation group showed significant improvement (p = 0.02), including improved mobility and reduction in the signs of pain, compared to the placebo group (60% improvement).

In the long-term two-year follow-up study, 66 of the 73 dogs had gold implantation [combined gold implantation group] and seven dogs continued as a control group. The 32 dogs in the original placebo group had gold beads implanted and were followed for a further 18 months. A certified veterinary acupuncturist used the same procedure to insert the gold beads as in the blinded study, and the owners completed the same type of detailed questionnaires. As in the blinded study, one investigator was responsible for all the assessments of each dog. The present study revealed that the pain-relieving effect of gold bead implantation observed in the blinded study continued throughout the two-year follow-up period.”

The same evaluation procedures were used as previously for the 6-month period. “For change within groups, cross-table [contingency table] analysis was performed.” Hip pain scored on a visual analogue scale (0…10) by the owners dropped from 5.1 on average on day 0 to 2.4 after 24 months in the combined gold implantation group, and from 4.4 to 3.0 in the placebo control group. The mean hip dysfunction score given by the owners dropped from 4.3 to 2.2 in the same time period in the gold group and was 3.9 and 4.0, respectively, in the control group.

“Owner-reports indicated that 85.3% of the dogs with gold bead implantation from Day 0 showed improvements in the overall hip-pain score after six months of treatment. After 24 months, 94.1% of the dogs with gold bead implantation showed improvements”. “Continuous pain-relieving effect of gold bead implantation was reported in 79.7% of the dogs.” For further results see the paper.
 

Gry T Jæger, Stig Larsen, Nils Søli, Lars Moe: Two years follow-up study of the pain-relieving effect of gold bead implantation in dogs with hip-joint arthritis. Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica 2007, 49:9, 23 March 2007, doi:10.1186/1751-0147-49-9, https://actavetscand.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1751-0147-49-9 .