Comparative study of tilidine-naloxone and pentazocine in knee and hip osteoarthritis.

Fifty patients, twenty-five suffering from severe knee osteoarthritis and twenty-five from acute hip osteoarthritis, received pentazocine or a new preparation of tilidine-naloxone for a period of 2 weeks, in a double-blind study. The two drugs were found to have the same efficacy and tolerance in both diseases with a minor but not statistically significant superiority for tilidine-naloxone. Similar quantities of drugs were taken over the study period, while patients were allowed to take as many as 8 capsules per day to relieve pain. There were quite equivalent side-effects and no marked changes in laboratory tests.