Comparison of cooled and conventional radiofrequency applications for the treatment of osteoarthritic knee pain

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Osteoarthritis is a progressive degenerative joint disease that affects the joint cartilage and surrounding tissues. It has been determined that osteoarthritis-induced knee pain is the most common cause of physical disability in the elderly. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this study, the genicular nerve RF treatments of patients with osteoarthritic knee pain conducted at the Sakarya University Training and Research Hospital in the algology clinic of the Anaesthesiology and Reanimation Department between January 2016 and December 2016 were retrospectively examined. The preoperative and postoperative 2(nd), 6(th), and 12th week visual analog scale (VAS) and Turkish validated Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) scores were recorded. In addition, any complications after the treatment and side effects (bleeding, neurological damage, infection, etc.) were recorded in the file. RESULTS: When the data of the patients were evaluated statistically, the preoperative VAS and WOMAC scores were found significantly decreased compared with the postoperative 2(nd) week, 6(th) week, and 12th week scores in patients who applied both conventional radiofrequency (RF) and cooled RF. However, there was no statistically significant difference between the two techniques. CONCLUSION: We found that both cooled and conventional RF techniques in genicular nerve ablation are similarly effective in reducing pain in patients with osteoarthritis-induced knee pain and improving patients’ physical functions. The complication rates are very low and there was no superiority to each other.