• Sinem Sarı, Osman N Aydın, Yasemin Turan, Pınar Özlülerden, Ufuk Efe, and Kurt Ömürlü İmran İ Department of Biostatistics, Medical Faculty, Adnan Menderes University, Aydin, Turkey..
• Department of Anesthesiology, Medical Faculty, Adnan Menderes University, Aydin, Turkey.
• Int J Rheum Dis. 2018 Oct 1; 21 (10): 1772-1778.

ObjectivesTo compare the efficacy of intra-articular injection and radiofrequency (RF) neurotomy of genicular nerves in patients with chronic knee osteoarthritis (OA) pain.MethodsSeventy-three patients with knee OA were included in the study. Patients were randomly assigned to Group IA (intra-articular 2.5 mL of bupivacaine, 2.5 mg of morphine and 1 mL of betamethasone, 6 mL of fluid injection) or Group RF (RF neurotomy of the genicular nerves). The outcome measures included a pain scale (visual analog scale, VAS) and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) Index of Osteoarthritis.ResultsNo statistically significant difference was found between the two groups in baseline VAS-pain. In Group RF, a significant reduction was observed in VAS-pain at the first month (P < 0.001) and the third month (P < 0.001) in comparison to Group IA. Also in Group RF, a significant reduction was observed in WOMAC total scores in the first month (P < 0.001) in comparison to Group IA.ConclusionThis study is the first controlled study in the literature which compares RF genicular nerve to intra-articular injections. This study demonstrated that genicular nerve RF neurotomy is a safe and efficient treatment modality and provides functional improvement along with an analgesia in patients with chronic knee OA.© 2016 Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

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