Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34535411›Full record

SynthesisBrazilian journal of physical therapy

Therapeutic ultrasound for knee osteoarthritis: A systematic review and meta-analysis with grade quality assessment.

Lucas Ogura Dantas, Mikala C Osani, Raveendhara R Bannuru

Open access · greenAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Brazilian journal of physical therapy. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
26citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
7.8field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

26 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 60 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Trial
  5. Trial
  6. Article
  7. Review
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. Review
  14. Review
  15. Review
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Review
  19. Review
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.

Lucas Ogura DantasDivision of Rheumatology, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA; Physical Therapy Department, Universidade Federal de São Carlos, São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil.
Mikala C OsaniCenter for Treatment Comparison and Integrative Analysis, Division of Rheumatology, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA.
Raveendhara R BannuruCenter for Treatment Comparison and Integrative Analysis, Division of Rheumatology, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA; Center for Complementary and Integrative Medicine, Division of Rheumatology, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: rbannuru@tuftsmedicalcenter.org.
Tufts Medical Center · US

Funding

Comparative effectiveness of mind-body interventions for osteoarthritis - individual patient data network meta-analysisK23AT009374 · NCCIH · TUFTS MEDICAL CENTER · PI BANNURU, RAVEENDHARA REDDY · 2017 to 2021
$830k
NCCIH NIH HHS K23 AT009374
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundTherapeutic ultrasound (US) is a widely used intervention in physical therapy to manage pain and to aid in the healing of soft tissue.

objectiveThis systematic review aimed to determine the effects of therapeutic US on knee osteoarthritis (KOA) symptoms.

methodsPubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Google Scholar, and the Cochrane databases were searched from inception to April 2019. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving adults with symptomatic KOA that compared therapeutic US with a sham or other control were included. The methodological quality of the trials was assessed at the study level using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. The quality of evidence at the outcome level- and overall- was assessed using GRADE methodology. Meta-analyses were conducted using random effects models, and heterogeneity was assessed using the I

resultsFour studies (N = 234 participants) were eligible for inclusion in our primary analyses assessing therapeutic US versus sham. The methodological quality of the included RCTs ranged from moderate to very low. Treatment with therapeutic US resulted in small, statistically significant benefits for pain (approximate 9.6% improvement on a 0-100 visual analog scale [95% confidence interval: 2, 17.4%]) and self-reported measures of function (approximate 12.8% improvement on a 0-100 visual analog scale [0.4, 25.2%]). The overall quality of the evidence was very low. No adverse events were reported in any of the included studies.

conclusionsThe use of therapeutic US may provide additional benefits to physical therapy regimens in terms of symptom relief in individuals with KOA. However, it is not possible to make any meaningful recommendations for clinical practice due to the small number of applicable RCTs and the low methodological quality of the RCTs deemed eligible for this study.

Indexed as

Osteoarthritis, KneeUltrasonic TherapyAdultHumansPainPain MeasurementAnalgesiaChronic painClinical applicationsElectrophysical agentPhysical therapy

Identifiers

PMID34535411
PMCPMC8721076
OpenAlexW3199756317

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.