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Given the potential adverse effects of many oral analgesics, patients with painful knee osteoarthritis (OA) often require other interventions. One option, provided at some pain treatment centers, is radiofrequency ablation of the genicular nerves innervating the knee (NEJM JW Gen Med Nov 1 2020 and Br J Bone Joint Surg 2020; 102:1501); to predict whether this procedure is likely to help, it often is preceded by genicular nerve block with short-acting anesthetic. Another option, examined in this Australian randomized trial, is genicular nerve block as the sole procedure — using both steroid and anesthetic.
Fifty-nine patients with painful knee OA underwent ultrasound-guided genicular nerve block (with the steroid betamethasone plus the anesth…