%0 Journal Article
%T Efficacy of low-dose radiotherapy in painful gonarthritis: experiences from a retrospective East German bicenter study
%A Keller Stephanie
%A M¨šller Klaus
%A Kortmann Rolf-Dieter
%A Wolf Ulrich
%J Radiation Oncology
%D 2013
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1748-717x-8-29
%X Purpose To evaluate the efficacy of low-dose radiotherapy in painful gonarthritis. Methods We assessed the medical records of 1037 patients with painful gonarthritis who had undergone low-dose radiotherapy between 1981 and 2008. The subjective patient perception of the response to irradiation as graded immediately or up to two months after the completion of a radiotherapy series was evaluated and correlated with age, gender, radiological grading and the duration of symptoms before radiotherapy. Moreover, we performed a mail survey to obtain additional long-term follow-up information and received one hundred and six evaluable questionnaires. Results We assessed 1659 series of radiotherapy in 1037 patients. In 79.3% of the cases the patients experienced a slight, marked or complete pain relief immediately or up to two months after the completion of radiotherapy. Gender, age and the duration of pain before radiotherapy did not have a significant influence on the response to irradiation. In contrast, severe signs of osteoarthritis were associated with more effective pain relief. In more than 50% of the patients who reported a positive response to irradiation a sustained period of symptomatic improvement was observed. Conclusions Our results confirm that low-dose radiotherapy is an effective treatment for painful osteoarthritis of the knee. In contrast to an earlier retrospective study, severe signs of osteoarthritis constituted a positive prognostic factor for the response to irradiation. A randomized trial is urgently required to compare radiotherapy with other treatment modalities.
%K Osteoarthritis
%K Knee
%K Radiotherapy
%K Irradiation
%K X-ray
%K Gonarthritis
%K Gonarthrosis
%K Osteoarthrosis
%U http://www.ro-journal.com/content/8/1/29