Abstract:Objective: To observe the clinical effectiveness of ultrasound-guided genicular nerve radiofrequency ablation in knee osteoarthritis treatment. Methods: One hundred and twelve patients clinically diagnosed knee osteoarthritis were randomly divided into two groups: RFA group (n=56) and Control group (n=56). The RFA group was treated with ultrasound-guided radiofrequency ablation of genicular nerves, while the Control group was treated with ultrasound-guided nerve block. Outcome assessments were performed at baseline and at the 1th, 3th and 6th months posttreatments using the numerical rating scale (NRS), Oxford Knee Score (OKS), Global perceived effect (GPE), and recording their adverse reaction. Results: At the 1th, 3th and 6th months after treatment, the NRS scores of the RFA group were (1.73 ± 1.25), (2.06 ± 1.17), (2.25 ± 1.11), which were significantly lower than those in the Control group (3.47 ± 1.08), (3.72 ± 0.93), (4.53 ± 1.28) (P < 0.01); The OKS scores (34.69 ± 7.38), (36.67 ± 8.74), (37.47 ± 8.91) were significantly higher than that of the Control group (29.11 ± 7.88), (27.77 ± 7.88), (24.13 ± 6.26) (P < 0.01), and the GPE scores (6.10 ± 0.88), (5.51 ± 0.97), (5.14 ± 0.80) were better than that of the Control group (5.32 ± 0.79), (4.811 ± 0.90), (4.52 ± 0.50) (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Ultrasound guided radiofrequency ablation of genicular nerves may significantly alleviate pain, improve knee joint function, increase patient satisfaction, and provide a feasible safe and effective minimally invasive treatment scheme in moderate to severe knee osteoarthritis.
