Treatment of chronic osteoarthritic hip pain with phenol neurolysis of the obturator nerve Quadfen 1

Abstract

The conservative treatment of osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip is essentially symptomatic, seeking to relieve pain and optimize function. Despite presenting great clinical effect, hip arthroplasty may have restrictions, and in these situations, the neurolytic blockade of the anterior branch of the obturator nerve can be a therapeutic alternative, since it stops the afferent pain from the hip joint. Objective: To describe the results of treating patients with severe OA of the hip by applying phenol to the obturator nerve. Method: Twelve consecutive patients with OA of the hip, refractory to conservative treatment, were recruited to have the obturator nerve localized through electrostimulation and blocked with phenol. They were evaluated in terms of pain intensity via the visual analogue scale (VAS), pressure dolorimetry in the medial and lateral gluteus medius, gluteus minimus, and piriformis, and quality of life by the Harris Hip Score (HHS) at baseline (BL) after 1 (M1), 2 (M2), and 6 months (M6). Results: The patients were between 30 and 72 years old with an avarege of 47.5 ± 1.7 years old, 5 of them were women. Three patients were excluded for not being able to come for follow up evaluations.  VAS values vaieded from 8.2 ±.0.9 at BL to 6.6 ± 1.7 at M1, 6.5 ± 1.7 at M2, and 7.3 ± 1 in M6 (p=0.0094). As to the HHS, the values were BL:33.27 ± 2.9; M1:39.2 ± 6.4; M2:40.2 ± 8.1, and M6: 38.8 ± 9.7 in the final evaluation (p=0,040). For dolorimetry, non significant variation was BL: 11±5.7, M1: 7.9±2.2; M2: 10.9±5.6; M6: 8.1 ± 1.6 (p 0.69). Conclusion: The application of phenol to the anterior branch of the obturator nerve can be an alternative in the treatment of severe OA of the hip in patients with restrictions to Total Hip Replacement (THR), since it reduces pain and improves quality of life.