
Osteoarthritis
Denervation therapy provides pain relief and functional improvement in knee OA up to 6 months
Pain Physician. 2019 Jul;22(4):341-352.6 studies (408 patients) were included in this meta-analysis which investigated the efficacy of denervation therapy compared to control (sham; genicular nerve block; conventional analgesic therapy; intra-articular knee injections) for the relief of pain and improvement of function, up to 24 weeks post-treatment in patients with knee osteoarthritis. The outcomes of interest included pain on a Visual Analog Scale (VAS), the proportion of patients with at least a 50% reduction from baseline in pain score, and the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) Osteoarthritis Index. Follow up was performed at 4 weeks, 12 weeks and 24 weeks post-treatment. Pooled results revealed significantly favourable VAS pain scores in the denervation group at all time points. Additionally, the proportion of patients with a minimum 50% reduction in pain score was significantly higher in the denervation group at 12 weeks and 24 weeks. Lastly, pooled WOMAC total score was significantly in favour of the denervation group at 4 weeks and 12 weeks, but was not significantly different between the denervation group and control group at 24 weeks.
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