Clinical Efficacy Assessment of Cooled Radiofrequency Ablation of the Hip in Patients With Avascular Necrosis

Abstract

Aim: This pilot case series examined feasibility of anterior radiofrequency approach under combined ultrasound and fluoroscopy guidance to control pain from avascular necrosis of the hip. Patients & methods: Data on 11 consecutive patients were collected on longevity of cooled radiofrequency ablation (CRFA), pain relief and opioid use. Results: The average age was 56 (28–66), BMI 29.5 (16.5–34), in four women and three men. Their average opioid use was 92 mg MS04 equivalents (median 35 mg). The pain score decreased to 3.3 after the CRFA. Five patients claimed more than 50% of pain relief. The average time interval of greater than 50% of pain relief from the CRFA was 70–250 days. Conclusion: CRFA may be an effective treatment of chronic pain from avascular necrosis.

Keywords::

• avascular necrosis
• chronic hip pain
• femoral nerve
• hip denervation
• obturator nerve
• radiofrequency denervation

Financial & competing interests disclosure

L Kapural is a paid consultant (Scientific Advisory Board) for Avanos Medical. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval from the Forsyth Medical Center, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. After individual patients’ data were collected, all identifiers were removed and deleted including medical record number, date of birth and first and last name of the patient. Further data analysis was conducted using consecutive numbers, as there was no need to return to patient files for any further analysis.