Successful Treatment of Hip Osteoarthritis With Radiofrequency Ablation: A Report of Two Cases

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common cause of activity limitation in adults. In two patients with chronic pain due to hip OA who had inadequate pain relief or had severe recalcitrant pain, fluoroscopy-guided radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of the hip joint nerve branches was performed, and analgesic effects were obtained. RFA of the hip joint nerve branches is usually performed by taking into consideration the localization of the femoral nerve and the obturator nerve innervating the anterior aspect of the hip joint, and the superior gluteal nerve and sciatic nerve innervating the posterior aspect of the hip joint. In these cases, RFA can be performed more easily by using a direct needle approach and can be more specific about tender points. These two cases suggest the usefulness of hip nerve branches RFA for patients with chronic pain due to hip OA who may not be candidates for total hip arthroplasty.