Nonsurgical calcific tendinitis care linked with pain relief, improved range of motion
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — When patients were administered three common treatments for calcific shoulder tendonitis, study results showed they could avoid surgery 44% of the time.
In a presentation at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine and Arthroscopy Association of North America Combined Meeting, here, Robin H. Dunn, MD, a sports medicine fellow at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Center for Sports Medicine, said he and his colleagues retrospectively studied whether physical therapy, corticosteroid injection or ultrasound-guided aspiration did a better job of helping patients with calcific tendinitis avoid surgery.
In addition, researchers sought to determine whether the type of presurgical modality used impacted postoperative outcomes of patients who went on to undergo surgery for calcific tendinitis, he said.
With average follow-up of about 190 days for the nonoperative treatment group and 150 days for the surgical group, “overall, we saw a success rate, meaning 44% of patients overall were able to avoid surgery,” Dunn said.
The average age of the 120 patients in which initial nonoperative treatment was attempted was 55 years.
The study groups were significantly heterogeneous, Dunn said, noting this is “likely due to the fact that those patients who tried multiple modalities failed. When we eliminated those and looked only at patients in those three groups — physical therapy, steroid injection, and ultrasound and aspiration — there was no significant difference.”
Among the nonsurgical group, all pain scores and range of motion improved from initial evaluation to final evaluation.
“Of note, there was no significant difference among the groups,” Dunn said.
“Of patients who did go on to surgery, we saw statistically significant improvements in all groups from preop to postop, and no significant differences among the groups with regard to pain or range of motion,” he said.
Furthermore, results showed all patients in the study who underwent multiple nonoperative modalities went on to surgery.
“Overall, conservative treatments for calcific tendinitis will help patients avoid surgery about 50% of the time,” Dunn said.
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