ObjectiveTo observe and study the clinical effect of glucosamine in the treatment of patients with knee articular cartilage injury caused by rheumatoid arthritis. MethodsForty-six patients with knee articular cartilage injury caused by rheumatoid arthritis treated from January 2013 to June 2015 were selected as the research subjects, and they were randomly divided into control group (conventional treatment group, n=23) and observation group (conventional and glucosamine treatment group, n=23) . Then the Noyes classification and serum articular cartilage injury related indexes [cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1, MMP-3 and mouse tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase (TIMP)-1], inflammatory indexes [tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)- 17 and IL-33] of the two groups before and after treatment were compared. ResultsIn the observation group, after treatment for 4, 8 and 12 weeks, Noyes grade was better than that in the control group, but with no statistical significance (P ＞ 0.05) . In the observation group, after treatment for 4, 8 and 12 weeks, serum inflammatory markers serum COMP, MMP-1, MMP-3 and TIMP-1 and other related indicators of cartilage damage and serum TNF-α, IL-17 and IL-33 were all significantly lower than those in the control group (P ＜ 0.05) . ConclusionIn the treatment of patients with knee articular cartilage injury caused by rheumatoid arthritis, glucosamine has active role for the improvement of articular cartilage injury and inflammatory stress state of patients.