medwireNews: A randomized controlled trial demonstrates no beneficial effect of low-dose radiation therapy (LDRT) for patients with hand osteoarthritis (OA).
Michiel Minten (Sint Maartenskliniek, Nijmegen, the Netherlands) and co-investigators found that 29.6% of 27 patients who were randomly assigned to receive six cycles of 1 Gy LDRT administered over 2 weeks met the OMERACT-OARSI responder criteria at the 3-month follow-up, compared with 35.7% of the 28 patients who received a sham intervention, a nonsignificant difference.
Similarly, improvements in clinical outcomes – including measures of pain, stiffness, and function – were comparable between the two groups, and there was no significant improvement in ultrasound-measured inflammatory endpoints from baseline to month 3 in either group.
A similar proportion of patients in both groups experienced adverse events, but nail reactions were numerically more common among those receiving LDRT versus sham (29 vs 11%).
“Based on these results, and the absence of other high-level evidence, we advise against the use [of] LDRT as treatment for patients with hand OA,” conclude the researchers in Osteoarthritis and Cartilage.
medwireNews is an independent medical news service provided by Springer Healthcare. © 2018 Springer Healthcare part of the Springer Nature group