Job Hermans

• Doctor of Medicine
• Erasmus MC

Background High molecular weight (HMW) hyaluronic acid (HA) is a treatment option for knee osteoarthritis (OA). The efficacy of HMW-HA in knee OA is investigated extensively, but the effectiveness in patients in the working age is unknown. Nevertheless, the number knee OA patients in the working age is increasing. Surgical treatment options are les...

Objective: Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is associated with high medical costs and especially with high productivity costs, in particular in patients in their working years. High molecular weight (HMW) hyaluronic acid (HA) is an alternative treatment for nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, which are known for their serious side-effects. The cost-utili...

In Reply All of the studies included in our meta-analysis were conducted by specialists with referred patients; even though we did not exclude primary care studies, there were none that met our inclusion criteria, which required high quality and low bias. We do not agree with Drs Descatha and colleagues that the results are inapplicable to a primar...

Introduction: Viscosupplementation with hyaluronic acid (HA) of osteoarthritic (OA) knee joints has a well-established positive effect on clinical symptoms. This effect, however, is only temporary and the working mechanism of HA injections is not clear. It was suggested that HA might have disease modifying properties because of its beneficial effe...

Rotator cuff disease (RCD) is the most common cause of shoulder pain seen by physicians. To perform a meta-analysis to identify the most accurate clinical examination findings for RCD. Structured search in MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL from their inception through May 2013. For inclusion, a study must have met the following criteria: (1) description...

Intra-articular needle placement in the knee joint, such as injection or aspirations, are commonly used for therapeutic, diagnostic, and research purposes. Although several approaches can be used to establish an intra-articular injection or aspiration of the knee joint, the accuracy differs per approach. To summarize the evidence concerning the acc...

Although the knee joint is one of the joints most affected by osteoarthritis (OA), research on the economic implications of joint disease has generally focused only on OA. The goal of this study was to identify and quantify knee-related productivity and medical costs in knee OA patients with paid employment. Furthermore, we evaluated associations b...