To report the five-year results of a randomised controlled trial
examining the effectiveness of arthroscopic acromioplasty in the
treatment of stage II shoulder impingement syndrome. A total of 140 patients were randomly divided into two groups:
1) supervised exercise programme (n = 70, exercise group); and 2)
arthroscopic acromioplasty followed by a similar exercise programme
(n = 70, combined treatment group).Objectives
Methods
Local corticosteroid infiltration is a common practice of treatment
for lateral epicondylitis. In recent studies no statistically significant
or clinically relevant results in favour of corticosteroid injections
were found. The injection of autologous blood has been reported
to be effective for both intermediate and long-term outcomes. It
is hypothesised that blood contains growth factors, which induce
the healing cascade. A total of 60 patients were included in this prospective randomised
study: 30 patients received 2 ml autologous blood drawn from contralateral
upper limb vein + 1 ml 0.5% bupivacaine, and 30 patients received
2 ml local corticosteroid + 1 ml 0.5% bupivacaine at the lateral
epicondyle. Outcome was measured using a pain score and Nirschl
staging of lateral epicondylitis. Follow-up was continued for total
of six months, with assessment at one week, four weeks, 12 weeks
and six months.Objectives
Methods