Role of radiotherapy in the management of heel spur

The purpose of this study is to investigate the use of low-dose radiotherapy (RT) in benign painful heel spur management.

Between the years of 2009 and 2012, in Gulhane Military Medical Academy Radiation Oncology Department, patients with heel spur undergoing radiotherapy for pain relief were analyzed retrospectively. In the evaluation of treatment response, Verbal Numeric Scale (VNS) scoring method was used to compare the pain status before and after radiotherapy. Age, gender, laterality, VNS score before RT, VNS score after RT, RT doses of the patients and patients undergoing second course of radiotherapy were recorded. All patients received 8 Gy RT in two fractions with Co-60 teletherapy machine. Statistical Package for Social Sciences, version 16.0 was used for data analysis with the level of significance set at p < 0.05.

The total number of patients receiving RT for heel spur pain was 450. Median age was 52 years (range 40-85 years). Two hundred and ninety-two (65%) of the patients were women and 158 (35%) were men. Radiologically calcaneal spurs were bilateral in 432 (96%) patients, whereas unilateral left in 8 (1.8%) patients and unilateral right heel location in 10 (2.2%) patients. Ten (2.2%) of the patient group received second course of RT due to refractory pain. Comparative evaluation of VNS scores before and after RT revealed statistically significant pain relief by radiotherapy (p < 0.05).

Low-dose radiotherapy is an effective and reliable painkilling treatment method that can be used in the treatment of epin calcanei refractory to medical and surgical treatment.