Ultrasound guided lavage with corticosteroid injection versus sham lavage for calcific tendinopathy of shoulder: RCT, 2023, Moosmayer et al

Full title: Ultrasound guided lavage with corticosteroid injection versus sham lavage with and without corticosteroid injection for calcific tendinopathy of shoulder: randomised double blinded multi-arm study

Abstract
Objective To compare treatment effects between ultrasound guided lavage with corticosteroid injection and sham lavage with and without corticosteroid injection in patients with calcific tendinopathy of the shoulder.

Design Pragmatic, three arm, parallel group, double blinded, sham controlled, randomised, superiority trial with repeated measurements over 24 months.

Setting Six hospitals in Norway and Sweden.

Participants 220 adults with calcific tendinopathy of the shoulder, persistent for at least three months.

Interventions Ultrasound guided deposit lavage plus subacromial injection of 20 mg triamcinolone acetonide and 9 mL 1% lidocaine hydrochloride (lavage+steroid); sham lavage plus subacromial injection of 20 mg triamcinolone acetonide and 9 mL 1% lidocaine hydrochloride (sham lavage+steroid); or sham lavage plus subacromial injection of 10 mL 1% lidocaine hydrochloride (sham). All patients received a physiotherapeutic treatment regimen consisting of four home exercises.

Main outcome measures The primary outcome was the result on the 48 point scale (0=worst; 48=best) of the Oxford Shoulder Score (OSS) at four month follow-up. Secondary outcomes included measurements on the short form of the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand questionnaire (QuickDASH) and of pain intensity up to 24 months. The influence of the size of the deposit at baseline and of the persistence or disappearance of the deposit was investigated.

Results Data from 218 (99%) participants were included in the primary analysis. Differences between groups on the OSS at four months were not significant: lavage+steroid versus sham 0.2 (95% confidence interval −2.3 to 2.8; P=1.0); sham lavage+steroid versus sham 2.0 (−0.5 to 4.6; P=0.35); lavage+steroid versus sham lavage+steroid −1.8 (−4.3 to 0.7; P=0.47). After four months, 143 patients with insufficient treatment effect received supplementary treatment. At 24 months, none of the study procedures was superior to sham. No serious adverse events were reported.

Conclusions This study found no benefit for ultrasound guided lavage with a corticosteroid injection or for sham lavage with a corticosteroid injection compared with sham treatment in patients with calcific rotator cuff tendinopathy of the shoulder.

Trial registration NCT02419040EudraCT 2015-002343-34; Ethical committee Norway 2015-002343-34; Ethical committee Sweden 2015/79-31; Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02419040.

 

I specifically noted that at six months there were no difference between treatment and control groups (two types of sham treatment). Sounds familiar?

NRK (Norwegian national news) has an article on the study today: Popular treatment for shoulder pain turns out not to work