RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Twelve-month analgesia and rescue, by cooled radiofrequency ablation treatment of osteoarthritic knee pain: results from a prospective, multicenter, randomized, cross-over trial
JF Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine
JO Reg Anesth Pain Med
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP 499
OP 506
DO 10.1136/rapm-2018-100051
VO 44
IS 4
A1 Davis, Tim
A1 Loudermilk, Eric
A1 DePalma, Michael
A1 Hunter, Corey
A1 Lindley, David A
A1 Patel, Nileshkumar
A1 Choi, Daniel
A1 Soloman, Marc
A1 Gupta, Anita
A1 Desai, Mehul
A1 Cook, Elizabeth
A1 Kapural, Leonardo
YR 2019
UL http://rapm.bmj.com/content/44/4/499.abstract
AB Background and objectives As a follow-up to the 6-month report,12 this study investigated the analgesic effect of cooled radiofrequency ablation (CRFA) in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA) 12 months postintervention and its ability to provide pain relief in patients who experienced unsatisfactory effects of intra-articular steroid injection (IAS).Methods Seventy-eight per cent (52/67) of patients originally treated with CRFA were evaluated at 12 months, while at 6 months post-IAS, 82% (58/71) of those patients crossed over to CRFA and assessed 6 months later.Results At 12 months, 65% of the original CRFA group had pain reduction ≥50%, and the mean overall drop was 4.3 points (p<0.0001) on the numeric rating scale. Seventy-five per cent reported ‘improved’ effects. The cross-over group demonstrated improvements in pain and functional capacity (p<0.0001). No unanticipated adverse events occurred.Conclusions This study demonstrates that analgesia following CRFA for OA knee pain could last for at least 12 months and could rescue patients who continue to experience intolerable discomfort following IAS.Clinical trial registration The ClinicalTrials.gov registration number for this study is NCT02343003.