BEIJING, Sept. 11 (Xinhuanet)-- Arthroscopic knee surgery is no better than more conservative treatment in reducing joint symptoms or improving functions for patients suffering from osteoarthritis.

    In a study in The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at the University of Western Ontario in Canada studied 178 men and women suffering from moderate to severe arthritis in their knees.

    All of the patients were provided with physical therapy as well as medications such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen.

    Eighty-six of the patients also received arthroscopic surgery, which involves making small incisions in the knee, inserting an arthroscope to see the joint, and then flushing debris from the knee or shaving rough areas of cartilage and cleansing the joint.

    They were then tracked for two years to assess the severity of their osteoarthritis.

    At the end of two years, the researchers concluded that compared with nonsurgical treatment, arthroscopic surgery of the knee did not improve joint symptoms or function for people suffering from osteoarthritis of the knee.

    This isn't the first time researchers are questioning the operations, which are done on thousands of Americans each year.

    In 2002, another study found the operations were no better than a sham procedure.

(Agencies)