ArticleStrahlentherapie und Onkologie : Organ der Deutschen Rontgengesellschaft ... [et al]2020
Radiotherapy for osteoarthritis of the ankle and tarsal joints-analysis of 66 joints.
Article in Strahlentherapie und Onkologie : Organ der Deutschen Rontgengesellschaft ... [et al], 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparative effectiveness of kilo- and megavoltage energies in low-dose radiotherapy for painful degenerative musculoskeletal diseases: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Strahlentherapie und Onkologie : Organ der Deutschen Rontgengesellschaft ... [et al] · 2025Pooled it
- Efficacy of non-surgical interventions for midfoot osteoarthritis: a systematic review.Rheumatology international · 2023Pooled it
- Low-Dose Radiotherapy Leads to a Systemic Anti-Inflammatory Shift in the Pre-Clinical K/BxN Serum Transfer Model and Reduces Osteoarthritic Pain in Patients.Frontiers in immunology · 2021Trial
- Low Dose Radiation Therapy Induces Long-Lasting Reduction of Pain and Immune Modulations in the Peripheral Blood - Interim Analysis of the IMMO-LDRT01 Trial.Frontiers in immunology · 2021Trial
- Low-Dose Radiation Therapy for Osteoarthritis: Analysis of Preliminary Outcomes at Scripps Clinic.Advances in radiation oncology · 2026Article
- Low-Dose Radiation Therapy (LDRT) for Osteoarthritis: A Retrospective Study of 94 Patients and 136 Joints Treated.Advances in radiation oncology · 2026Article
- Article
- Low-dose Radiation Therapy (LDRT) in Managing Osteoarthritis: A Comprehensive Review.Current therapeutic research, clinical and experimental · 2025Review
- Low-dose radiotherapy for painful osteoarthritis of the elderly: A multicenter analysis of 970 patients with 1185 treated sites.Strahlentherapie und Onkologie : Organ der Deutschen Rontgengesellschaft ... [et al] · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeOsteoarthritis of the ankle and tarsal joints is less common than osteoarthritis of the knee or hip, but the associated disability is at least as severe as that of the other major joints of the lower limb. The results for total arthroplasty are still not satisfactory. For this reason, arthrodesis is still the gold standard of non-joint-conserving surgery. For the reason of functionality, joint-conserving therapies play a major role in treatment of ankle and tarsal osteoarthritis. Low-dose radiotherapy has a long history of treatment of osteoarthritis. The aim of this survey was to examine the results of low-dose radiotherapy for osteoarthritis of the ankle and tarsal joints. MATERIALS AND
methodsThe analysis was performed on patients of three German radiotherapy institutions and included 66 irradiated joints. Pain was documented with the numeric rating scale (NRS). Evaluation of the NRS was done before and directly after each radiation therapy course as well as for the follow-up of 24 months. The median age of the patients was 68 years, with 24.5% male and 75.5% female patients. The upper ankle was treated in 37.9%, the lower ankle in 27.3% and the tarsal joints in 34.8%.
resultsWe could find a significant response to radiotherapy. For the whole sample, the median pain was 7 on the NRS before radiotherapy, 5 after 6 and 12 weeks, and 4 after 12 months. The percentage of patients with 0 or 1 on the NRS was 19.6% 12 months after radiotherapy. An improvement of joint mobility could be detected in 56.7% of the cases. All investigated subgroups had a significant reduction in pain.
conclusionRadiotherapy of ankle and tarsal osteoarthritis is an effective treatment without showing side effects. All analysed subgroups show a good response to radiotherapy for at least 24 months.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.