| Summary, etc. |
<h4 style="font-size: 13px; margin: 0px 0.25em 0px 0px; text-transform: uppercase; float: left; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">BACKGROUND:</span></h4><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; font-size: 1.04em; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">A retrospective single centre cohort analysis was performed to evaluate an individualised radial extracorporeal shock wave therapy (rESWT) protocol for treatment of symptomatic calcific shoulder tendinopathy.</span></p><h4 style="font-size: 13px; margin: 0px 0.25em 0px 0px; text-transform: uppercase; float: left; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">METHODS:</span></h4><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; font-size: 1.04em; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">67 patients (79 Shoulders) were identified with 76 shoulders included for analysis. rESWT treatment protocol was adapted according to individual response to treatment. Variables included number of sessions, shockwave impulses, pressure and frequency. Success rate was estimated as the percentage of patients having ≥60% visual analogue score (VAS) pain decrease at follow-up. Recurrence at 1&nbsp;year was recorded.</span></p><h4 style="font-size: 13px; margin: 0px 0.25em 0px 0px; text-transform: uppercase; float: left; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">RESULTS:</span></h4><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; font-size: 1.04em; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Using this individualised symptom guided protocol, patients underwent a mean of 7 ± 1.5 rESWT sessions, with mean pressure of 1.7 ± 0.2&nbsp;bar, mean frequency of 5 ± 0.3&nbsp;Hz and 2175 ± 266 impulses. The mean pre-treatment VAS score of 6.7 ± 1.1 was significantly decreased to 3.2 ± 0.8 immediately post-treatment, 2.6 ± 0.9 at 1&nbsp;month, 1.7 ± 1.0 at 3&nbsp;months and 0.8 ± 1.0 at 1&nbsp;year follow up (α = 0.05). One-year success rate was estimated at 92% and 1-year recurrence rate was 7%.</span></p><h4 style="font-size: 13px; margin: 0px 0.25em 0px 0px; text-transform: uppercase; float: left; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">CONCLUSIONS:</span></h4><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; font-size: 1.04em; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">We conclude that in this retrospective study an individualised rESWT protocol resulted in a high success rate with low number of recurrences. Randomised controlled trials to support these findings are recommended.</span></p> |