Efficacy of arthroscopic guided radiofrequency thermoablation for refractory lateral epicondylitis: report of 38 cases
Received:February 20, 2016  Revised:March 10, 2016
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DOI:10.11915/j.issn.1671-5403.2016.05.077
Key words:arthroscopy  tennis elbow  radiofrequency
Author NameAffiliationE-mail
SHEN Xue-Zhen1,2, LI Hong-Liang1, GUO Qi1, LU Xi1, QI Wei1, QU Feng1, LIU Yu-Jie1*, ZHU Juan-Li1, LIU Yang1 1Department of Orthopaedics, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China
2Medical College of Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China 
liuyujie301@163.com 
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Abstract:
      Objective To evaluate therapeutic effect of a minimal invasive operation guided by arthroscopy in treatment of lateral epicondylitis. Methods A total of 38 patients with refractory lateral epicondylitis treated in our department from January 2010 to December 2014 were enrolled in this study. They received TOPAZ treatment under the guide of arthroscopy. Visual analogue scale (VAS) for pain and Mayo elbow performance scores before and after operation were used to assess the effect of the operation. Nimodipine method was adopted to evaluate the efficiency. All the patients were followed up for more than 12 months. Results All the patients were operated successfully, and no vessel or nerve injury was observed intra-and post-operatively. All of them reported alleviation of pain and activity limitation. Great improvements were made in the VAS score(7.05±0.80 vs 2.47±1.36) and Mayo elbow function score (32.66±6.38 vs 13.18±8.44) in 12 months after treatment (both P<0.05). The total efficiency was 94.74% at the end of follow-up in the cohort. Conclusion Arthroscopic guided radiofrequency thermoablation (TOPAZ) is simple, effective, less invasive, and of fewer complications in the treatment of chronic lateral epicondylitis.
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