Radiofrequency Ablation and Steroid Versus Steroid Alone for Relief of Pain in Patients With Advanced Knee and Hip Osteoarthritis

Radiofrequency Ablation and Steroid Versus Steroid Alone for Relief of Pain in Patients With Advanced Knee and Hip Osteoarthritis

Radiofrequency Ablation and Steroid Versus Steroid Alone for Relief of Pain in Patients With Advanced Knee and Hip Osteoarthritis

The purpose of this trial is to determine if radiofrequency ablation plus steroid perineural injections at the knee or hip provide longer pain relief and better function to patients than the current standard of care, perineural steroid injections alone. This pilot study is a prospective two arm randomized trail, all participants will be recruited from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW) outpatient orthopedic clinic. 40 participants (20 hip and 20 knee OA) will be enrolled into the standard of care arm (treated with steroid injections alone) and 40 participants (20 hip and 20 knee OA) will be enrolled into the investigational arm (treatment with a combination of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) plus steroid injections) for a total of 80 enrolled participants. All subjects will complete a function and pain assessment at the time of injection and three additional time points: 2 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months post injection. This study will use the same knee function questionnaire and frequency currently used in clinic per standard of care. In addition, all participant's surgical history and prior injection history will be reviewed via the Electronic Medical Record (EMR).

Participants assigned to this study arm will receive only Perineural Steroid Injections per clinical standards. Participant will also complete a joint function questionnaire at 4 time points, pre-procedure, 2 weeks post procedure, 3 months post procedure, and 6 months post procedure.

Participants assigned to this study arm will receive Perineural Steroid Injections plus Radiofrequency Ablation per clinical standards. Participant will also complete a joint function questionnaire at 4 time points, pre-procedure, 2 weeks post procedure, 3 months post procedure, and 6 months post procedure.

RFA involves heating of periarticular nerves using continuous RFA (80-90C for 60-90 seconds) that results in electromodulation and denervation reducing pain. It can be done under fluoroscopy or CT guidance. CT guidance has additional benefit of better localization of the nerves, as opposed to simple bony landmarks used in fluoroscopy, since nerve branching variations are common and will be used in this study.

Perineural Steroid Injections involve CT guided injection of Local Anesthetic and Steroid into a nerve root of the spine to provide ongoing pain relief.

Hip functional score will be assessed using current standard of care Hip score questionnaire for hip OA at baseline (pre-procedure). Possible scores range from 1-100, where lower scores indicate worse function.

Hip functional score will be assessed using current standard of care Hip score questionnaire for hip OA at 2 weeks post procedure. Possible scores range from 1-100, where lower scores indicate worse function.

Hip functional score will be assessed using current standard of care Hip score questionnaire for hip OA at 3 months post procedure. Possible scores range from 1-100, where lower scores indicate worse function.

Hip functional score will be assessed using current standard of care Hip score questionnaire for hip OA at 6 months post procedure. Possible scores range from 1-100, where lower scores indicate worse function.

Knee Functional score as measured by standard of care questionnaire for knee OA at baseline (pre-procedure)

Knee functional score will be measured using current standard of care questionnaire for knee osteoarthritis (OA) at baseline (pre-procedure). Possible scores range from 1-100, where higher scores indicate worse function.

Knee Functional score as measured by standard of care questionnaire for knee OA at 2 weeks post procedure

Knee functional score will be measured using current standard of care questionnaire for knee osteoarthritis (OA) at 2 weeks post procedure. Possible scores range from 1-100, where higher scores indicate worse function.

Knee Functional score as measured by standard of care questionnaire for knee OA at 3 months post procedure

Knee functional score will be measured using current standard of care questionnaire for knee osteoarthritis (OA) at 3 months post procedure. Possible scores range from 1-100, where higher scores indicate worse function.

Knee Functional score as measured by standard of care questionnaire for knee OA at 6 months post procedure

Knee functional score will be measured using current standard of care questionnaire for knee osteoarthritis (OA) at 6 months post procedure. Possible scores range from 1-100, where higher scores indicate worse function.

Inclusion Criteria: (1 & 2 or 3) Males or females age 18 to 100 years Osteoarthritis of the knee Kellgren-Lawrence grade 3-4 OR Osteoarthritis of the hip Tonnis grades 2 or higher Exclusion Criteria: History of knee or hip replacement History of intra-articular steroid injections within the past 6 weeks Active infection

Chen AF, Mullen K, Casambre F, Visvabharathy V, Brown GA. Thermal Nerve Radiofrequency Ablation for the Nonsurgical Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Literature Review. J Am Acad Orthop Surg. 2021 May 1;29(9):387-396. doi: 10.5435/JAAOS-D-20-00522.

Conger A, McCormick ZL, Henrie AM. Pes Anserine Tendon Injury Resulting from Cooled Radiofrequency Ablation of the Inferior Medial Genicular Nerve. PM R. 2019 Nov;11(11):1244-1247. doi: 10.1002/pmrj.12155. Epub 2019 May 24. No abstract available.

Kim SY, Le PU, Kosharskyy B, Kaye AD, Shaparin N, Downie SA. Is Genicular Nerve Radiofrequency Ablation Safe? A Literature Review and Anatomical Study. Pain Physician. 2016 Jul;19(5):E697-705.

Li G, Zhang Y, Tian L, Pan J. Radiofrequency ablation reduces pain for knee osteoarthritis: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Int J Surg. 2021 Jul;91:105951. doi: 10.1016/j.ijsu.2021.105951. Epub 2021 Apr 18.

Rivera F, Mariconda C, Annaratone G. Percutaneous radiofrequency denervation in patients with contraindications for total hip arthroplasty. Orthopedics. 2012 Mar 7;35(3):e302-5. doi: 10.3928/01477447-20120222-19.

Chye CL, Liang CL, Lu K, Chen YW, Liliang PC. Pulsed radiofrequency treatment of articular branches of femoral and obturator nerves for chronic hip pain. Clin Interv Aging. 2015 Mar 16;10:569-74. doi: 10.2147/CIA.S79961. eCollection 2015.

Bhatia A, Hoydonckx Y, Peng P, Cohen SP. Radiofrequency Procedures to Relieve Chronic Hip Pain: An Evidence-Based Narrative Review. Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2018 Jan;43(1):72-83. doi: 10.1097/AAP.0000000000000694.