Re-irradiation for humeral epicondylitis : Retrospective analysis of 99 elbows.
Strahlenther Onkol
; 196(3): 262-269, 2020 Mar.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31309264
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Humeral epicondylitis is a common elbow disease. The prevalence is about 1.7%. One of the most effective treatment options is radiotherapy. Some authors mention that they apply a second or third course of radiation for recurrent pain or partial or no response to the initial course. As the results of a re-irradiation have not been systematically analyzed, the aim of this study was to document the results of repeated radiation treatment and to identify those patients who will benefit. MATERIAL ANDMETHODS:
The analysis was performed on patients from three German radiotherapy institutions and included 99 re-irradiated elbows. Pain was documented with the numeric rating scale (NRS). Evaluation of the NRS was done before and directly after each radiation therapy as well as for the follow-up of 24 months. The median age of the patients was 51 years with 48.8% male and 51.2% female patients. Repeated radiation was indicated because the initial radiotherapy resulted in 39.7% of no response, in 41.0% of partial response and in 19.3% of recurrent pain.RESULTS:
A significant response to re-irradiation was found. For the whole sample the median pain score was 6 before re-irradiation, 3 after 6 weeks, 2 after 12 months and 1 after 24 months. The percentage of patients being free of pain or with very little pain was 50.9% 24 months after re-irradiation. All subgroups, notably those with no response, partial response and recurrent pain had a significant reduction of pain.CONCLUSION:
Re-irradiation of humeral epicondylitis is an effective and safe treatment. All subgroups showed a good response to re-irradiation for at least 24 months.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Tennis Elbow
/
Elbow
Type of study:
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Strahlenther Onkol
Journal subject:
NEOPLASIAS
/
RADIOTERAPIA
Year:
2020
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Germany