Kneesy does it: new procedure could offer pain relief after knee replacement surgery

By Tom Campbell via SWNS

A new medical procedure could improve quality of life for millions of people after they undergo knee replacement surgery.

The treatment offers arthritis patients long term pain relief and an alternative to highly addictive painkillers, say scientists.

More than 10 million people in the UK suffer from arthritis or similar health conditions which can make their joints, including their knees and hips, extremely painful.

A growing number of these patients are getting knee replacement surgery in the hope of regaining some mobility and quality of life.

But between 15 and 30 percent of those who go under the knife continue to experience pain and stiffness.

While some decide to go through surgery again, there is no guarantee this will solve the problem.

Now, scientists in the United States have tested a new procedure which could offer them long term relief at last.

"A lot of patients don’t achieve any resolution of pain," saidassistant professor Felix Gonzalez at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.

"It’s a big problem, and up till now, there weren’t any other options.”

The procedure, dubbed cooled radio frequency ablation (C-RFA), involves using a large needle to target specific nerve locations around the knee while the patient is under general anaesthetic.

A probe is then guided to the location before emitting a low voltage current - or radio frequency to the deep sensory nerves around the knee.

"With a larger propagating heat wave, you can account for the differences in nerve anatomy from patient to patient because of a larger treatment zone," saidGonzalez.

"Treating a larger zone increases the effectiveness of the procedure.”

The researchers surveyed 21 patients who had complete knee replacement surgery and were suffering from persistent chronic pain.

They were asked to fill out clinically validated questionnaires to assess their level of pain and how it affected everyday physical tasks.

Follow-up surveys were collected a year after participants received the C-RFA procedure.

It showed the patients had experienced a "statistically significant improvement" in their quality of life, the researchers found.

Both pain and stiffness scores were improved dramatically and no major complications were reported.

Likewise, they did not require further medical treatments, including surgery or any other kind of intervention.

"This procedure can have a huge impact on patients who have gone through major surgery and are still suffering pain that is very debilitating," Gonzalez said.

The procedure's long term relief gives it a "major advantage" over current treatments such as cortisone injections, which usually only work for a few months.

"It’s very encouraging that up to a year out these patients have such significant pain relief and a better quality of life," Gonzalez said.

"The hope is that in that period of time, the patient can become more mobile and increase their activity.

"Even if pain comes back, we predict that it won’t come back with the same intensity as before."

Every year, there are approximately 160,000 total hip and knee replacement operations performed in the UK.

The new procedure, which the researcher describe as "minimally intrusive", is also easily replicated if necessary and could reduce patients dependency on highly addictive opioid painkillers.

"We hope that this procedure will become a standard of treatment for pain in this setting," Gonzalez said.

The findings will be presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).