Subjects

One hundred and fifty two patients of either gender were selected for screening. They were between 40 and 80 years of age, and had been suffering from unilateral or bilateral OA of the knee according to the criteria of the American College of Rheumatology [20 ] for more than 3 months. After the use of usual medications had ceased for 7 days, the visual analog scale (VAS) score that assessed pain during the most painful knee movement had to be more than 40, and Lequesne's functional index [21 ] had to be over 7 points. Participants had to be able to walk and give both verbal and written information regarding the study. Signed informed consent was obtained prior to entry. Exclusion criteria included an underlying inflammatory arthropathy, hyperuricemia, expectation of surgery in the near future, recent injury in the area affected by OA of the knee, intra-articular corticosteroid injections within the last 3 months, hypersensitivity to NSAIDs, abnormal liver or kidney function tests, major abnormal finding on complete blood count, history of coagulopathies, history of peptic ulceration and upper GI hemorrhage, uncontrolled hypertension, congestive heart failure, hyperkalemia, pregnancy, lactation and malignant tumors.