Pain treatment with cooled radiofrequency in osteoarthritis and total knee arthroplasty: case series in Hospital Universitario de Son Espases

Background and objectives: Cooled radiofrequency (RF) for neurotomy of genicular nerves has been proved to be efficient in short-term (12 weeks) to relieve the knee pain in severe osteoarthritis (OA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA). This study is aimed to analyze the results of cooled radiofrequency in patients with chronic knee pain after one year of follow-up. >Design: A retrospective case-series study. Methods: Forty patients underwent cooled RF of genicular nerves. We evaluated results of 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36), Knee Society Score (KSS) and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) preoperatively and after one-year follow-up. >Results: Regarding SF-36, a significant improvement in pain, general health and overall outcome was obtained. Preoperative average VAS score was 8.5; 1 year after surgery this score was 5.3. Significant differences were found at the knee score (KS) in KSS but not in the function score (FS) in KSS. Conclusion: Cooled RF for neurotomy of genicular nerves is still effective after 1 year of the procedure in the treatment of chronic knee pain due to osteoarthritis. The rate of conversion to arthroplasty is low. This technique could be a good alternative for chronic pain management in patients in whom TKA is not the first option of treatment