[Gonalgia: treatment with therapeutic local anesthesia. Results of a controlled comparative study versus diclofenac].

The effectiveness and tolerance of therapeutic local anesthesia (TLA) with lidocaine was compared with those of oral diclofenac in a controlled, open, randomized study involving 76 patients with gonalgia due to gonarthrosis or patellar chondropathy. During the course of the three-week (maximum) treatment, the summed score of pain at rest, pain on movement, and restricted mobility, taken as the target parameter of effectiveness, decreased significantly more markedly (p = 0.008) under TLA, than under diclofenac.