A prospective pilot study depicted that cooled radiofrequency nerve ablation (C-RFA) therapy has minimal complications and is a good substitute to alleviate stiffness and chronic shoulder pain from symptomatic glenohumeral osteoarthritis. Investigators aimed to explore the effect of image-guided axillary, lateral pectoral, and suprascapular nerve C-RFA as a substitute to manage shoulder osteoarthritis.

For determining candidacy for C-RFA, the subjects underwent anesthetic blocks of axillary, lateral pectoral, and suprascapular nerves. The adequate response following anesthetic block was over 50% prompt pain alleviation. A total of 12 people (experiencing shoulder pain from moderate to severe glenohumeral arthritis) underwent the C-RFA procedure.

Utilizing visual analog scale (VAS) and American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) score, evaluation of functional activities of everyday living, pain, and stiffness was done. Following C-RFA, the follow-up outcome scores were collected for up to six months. After C-RFA therapy, a remarkable improvement in VAS and total ASES scores were reported, as illustrated in Table 1:

There were no major complications. None of the participants underwent shoulder arthroplasty or received re-treatment. Thus, the novel technique C-RFA is valuable to mitigate pain and stiffness in in shoulder osteoarthritis people who have failed other conservative therapies and who are not surgical candidates or deny operation.