Re-irradiation for humeral epicondylitis : Retrospective analysis of 99 elbows

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.

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.

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.

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.