OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of acupotomy in 
treatment of knee osteoarthritis (OA).
METHODS: Extensive literature searches were carried out in PubMed, EMBASE, 
Cochrane Library (Issue 5, 2017), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, China 
National Knowledge Infrastructure Database, China Science and Technology Journal 
Database and Wanfang Database. All databases were retrieved from their inception 
until May 31, 2017. Randomized controlled trials incorporating acupotomy versus 
intra-articular sodium hyaluronate for knee osteoarthritis were included. 
According to Cochrane Reviews' Handbook (5.2), two reviewers screened each 
article and extracted data independently and were blinded to the findings of 
each reviewer. Meta-analysis was performed by the Cochrane Collaboration's 
RevMan 5.3 software.
RESULTS: We identified 12 studies involving 1150 patients aged between 40 and 78 
years old. The pooled analysis indicated that acupotomy showed a significant 
improvement for short-term effect [cure rate: odds ratio (OR) = 2.04, 95% 
confidence interval (CI) (1.46, 2.85), P < 0.01; total effective rate: OR = 
2.25, 95% CI (1.55, 3.28), P < 0.01; pain score: standard mean difference (SMD) 
= －1.02; 95% CI (－1.72, －0.31); P = 0.005; Western Ontario and McMaster 
Universities Questionnaire (WOMAC) score: SMD = －0.74; 95% CI (－1.11, －0.37); P 
< 0.01]; and also for long-term effect [total effective rate: OR = 2.99, 95%CI 
(1.88, 4.76), Z = 4.64, P < 0.01; pain score: SMD = －1.68; 95% CI (－2.14, 
－1.22); P < 0.001; WOMAC score: SMD = －0.91; 95% CI (－1.40, －0.41); P < 0.001]. 
In addition, there was no obvious difference between acupotomy group and control 
group in adverse events [OR = 2.13, 95%CI (0.14, 32.28), P = 0.58].
CONCLUSION: Acupotomy is a safe and effective treatment for KOA. However, due to 
the methodological deficiency of the included studies, well-designed randomized 
controlled trials are required to further confirm the findings.