[Ultrasound-guided percutaneous tenotomy in chronic wrist extensor enthesopathy]

Epicondylitis causes disability and tends to become chronic. Histologically, degenerative lesions are found in the common extensor tendon, which are visible on ultrasound or magnetic resonance imaging. Several conservative therapeutic measures are available, including corticosteroid infiltration by anatomical landmark. However, these measures sometimes fail, in which case patients are proposed for surgery. Ultrasound is a therapeutic tool that allows procedures on tendons to be performed without skin incisions. The technique of ultrasound-guided percutaneous tenotomy for the treatment of chronic epicondylitis was first reported in 2006. This procedure, demonstrated to date by surgeons and radiologists, attempts to transform a chronic degenerative process with failure to repair into an acute inflammatory process with self-regeneration. The aim of this study was to describe 5 cases of epicondylitis that failed to respond to routine therapeutic measures, in which we used ultrasound-guided percutaneous tenotomy with favourable results.