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Intra-articular hip injection: does pain relief correlate with radiographic severity of osteoarthritis?

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An Erratum to this article was published on 28 June 2012

Abstract

Objective

Intra-articular injection is being used widely for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes in the hip. However, its efficacy is not always predictable in patients with hip osteoarthritis (OA). The purpose of this study was to determine whether the degree of radiographic severity of OA was predictive of the response to intra-articular injection of local anesthetic with corticosteroid and to determine the relationship between immediate pain relief resulting from the anesthetic and delayed pain relief resulting from corticosteroid administration.

Materials and methods

This retrospective study included 217 patients (220 injections) with diagnosis of hip OA who underwent a fluoroscopically guided therapeutic hip injection of local anesthetic and corticosteroid. Hip radiographs were scored using the Kellgren–Lawrence scale. Immediate and delayed pain relief was documented using a visual analog scale. Logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate whether age, gender or radiographic severity of OA were independent predictors of pain relief. Degree of agreement between immediate and delayed response was assessed with the kappa coefficient.

Results

Immediate pain relief was reported in 68.2% of hips and delayed relief in 71.4% of hips. A high level of agreement was observed between immediate and delayed pain relief (kappa = 0.80, p < 0.001). 94% of patients reporting immediate relief also reported relief 2 weeks later. Univariate and multivariate analysis revealed that neither gender nor age was related to immediate or delayed pain relief. Only severity of OA (based on radiographic analysis) was observed to be predictive of pain relief.

Conclusion

Pain relief following intra-articular hip injection correlated with radiographic severity of OA. This intervention may be of therapeutic and prognostic value in patients awaiting hip arthroplasty.

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Acknowledgement

No benefits or funds were received in support of this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, North Shore LIJ Lenox Hill Hospital, 130E 77th Street 11th Floor, New York, NY, 10075, USA

    Ajit J. Deshmukh & Jose A. Rodriguez

  2. Department of Radiology, North Shore LIJ Lenox Hill Hospital, 100E 77th Street 3rd Floor, New York, NY, 10075, USA

    Ahmadreza Alizadeh & Devon A. Klein

  3. Department of Research, North Shore LIJ Lenox Hill Hospital, 100E 77th Street, New York, NY, 10075, USA

    Georgia Panagopoulos

Authors
  1. Ajit J. Deshmukh
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  2. Georgia Panagopoulos
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  3. Ahmadreza Alizadeh
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  4. Jose A. Rodriguez
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  5. Devon A. Klein
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Correspondence to Ajit J. Deshmukh.

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Deshmukh, A.J., Panagopoulos, G., Alizadeh, A. et al. Intra-articular hip injection: does pain relief correlate with radiographic severity of osteoarthritis?. Skeletal Radiol 40, 1449–1454 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-011-1120-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00256-011-1120-8

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