Poster 106: A Prospective Randomized Trial of Prognostic Genicular Nerve Blocks to Determine the Predictive Value for the Outcome of Cooled Radiofrequency Ablation for Chronic Knee Pain Due to Osteoarthritis

Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 12 Randomized Controlled Trials Evaluating the Efficacy of Invasive Radiofrequency Treatment for Knee Pain and Function

“…The mechanism of intra-articular PRF or RFA of genicular nerves has not yet been clarified; however, all published studies suggest that RF treatment can significantly reduce pain around the knee [7, 10–14, 16–19, 21, 26–28, 36–40]. The analgesic effect of PRF at 1 week of treatment was not statistically significant and putatively associated with a large space of knee joint cavity and a large distance of the needle cannula from the peripheral sensory nerve around the synovium, cartilage, and bone [17, 38].…”

“…In the randomized prospective multicenter trial conducted by Davis et al [26], the proportion of patients with > 50% pain remission rate was 74% and 16% in CRF and control groups, respectively, after 6 months of observation. McCormick et al [27, 28] reported that the proportion of patients with > 50% pain remission rate ranging from 35 to 74.1% at 6 months. Furthermore, comparing the scores for pain remission, RFA or CRF of the genicular nerves was more effective than PRF for analgesia in the knee joint at the 6 th month, which was similar to the results of the subgroup analysis in the current study.…”

“…Consequently, ultrasonographic guidance for finding the nerves would significantly improve the effect of the blockade or RF treatment. McCormick et al speculated that > 80% remission rate of the diagnostic obstruction of the genicular nerves was positively correlated to the CRF success rate [28].…”

“…CRF was first introduced in 2015, in which temperature at the tip of the needle was regulated around 60°C by the water circulation. This new technology created a greater local neuron denervation than the traditional RFA, and 50% pain relief rate at 6 months is 74.1% [6, 22–28]. Based on the above literatures, we can conclude that knee-related RF treatments can effectively control knee pain and improve knee function.…”