Percutaneous Radiofrequency Hip Joint Denervation

Abstract

With an aging population, chronic osteoarthritic hip joint pain is becoming a major issue. Most patients with hip pain can control their pain with conservative measures but with a gradual reduction in their quality of life. When gradually reduced ambulation and pain become recalcitrant, total hip arthroplasty is the next step. For most patients, this is a good way to improve pain control and to recover some quality of life, but for a few this aggressive surgical procedure is not possible. Sometimes co-morbidities make total hip arthroplasties undesirable. At other times, the age of the patients recommends to wait for a while. In these cases, other options have to be explored. Percutaneous partial hip joint sensory denervation has become a notable option as it can provide acceptable rates of pain relief with minimal surgical aggressiveness. There are three modalities to perform it: thermal, cooled and pulsed radiofrequency.