Radiological Recovery of Osteoid Osteoma after CT Guided Percutaneous Radiofrequency Ablation

To observe the necessity and usefulness of follow-up Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computed Tomography Imaging (CTI) after RFA of osteoid osteoma.

A descriptive study.

Department of Radiology, Sisli Etfal Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey, between May 2015 and January 2020.

Patients, who underwent CT-guided RFA for osteoid osteoma treatment, were followed-up both clinically and radiologically. MRI was recommended between the third and sixth months and CTI at 12th month or later for follow-up. All the pre and post-treatment radiological images were evaluated retrospectively. Radiological recovery was noted in three categories as complete/almost-complete, partial, and minimal-no recovery according to the healing of pre-treatment radiological findings.

One-hundred and thirty-one patients with at least one follow-up CT or MRI were included. All had technically and clinically successful RFA treatments. Of 131 patients, 64.1% had CTI and 82.4% had MRI follow-up. In follow-up images, complete/almost-complete-recovery was observed in 70.2%, partial recovery in 26.7%, and minimal recovery in 3.1% of the cases. Re-ablation therapies were applied in 2 cases in this study due to pain recurrence after three months of successful treatments.

Radiological follow-up is beneficial for the evaluation of outcome after RFA of osteoid-osteoma. At least one follow-up MRI may be helpful for the assessment of healing or recurrence. Follow-up CTI may not be needed unless planning a re-ablation.

Osteoma osteoid, Radiofrequency ablation, Tomography, Magnetic resonance imaging.