Genicular Radiofrequency Ablation Following Total Knee Arthroplasty

NCT05283889 · Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 44

Last updated 2026-02-05

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Currently, nearly 1 million total knee arthroplasties (TKA) are performed yearly in the United States. Three million are projected to be performed in 2040. Between 15-30% of all patients who undergo TKA have continued pain, reduced quality of life and functional impairments that cannot be attributed to hardware failure/loosening or infection. Treatment options for persistent post TKA pain (failed TKA) are limited. There is a need for minimally invasive, and effective pain and disability modulating interventions for patients with failed TKA. Genicular radiofrequency ablation (GRFA) has been described, refined, and validated as an effective minimally invasive intervention to control refractory knee pain secondary to knee osteoarthritis (OA) as evidenced by three favorable meta-analyses published in 2021 alone.3-5 GRFA is a minimally invasive percutaneous procedure that utilizes thermal energy to coagulate nerves from the knee. Though sometimes used in practice, there is limited research describing and evaluating GRFA for patients with failed TKA. This will be the first trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of GRFA in patients with failed TKA using a robust study design and up-to-date, evidence-based selection criteria and technique.

Conditions

  • Osteoarthritis, Knee

Interventions

PROCEDURE

Genicular Radiofrequency Ablation

After the cannulae are placed and tines deployed, a single lesion (30 second ramp-up time; 80C x 2 minutes) will be made at each of the medial and lateral branches of the nerve to the vastus intermedialis, nerves to the vastus lateralis and medialis, recurrent fibular nerve, inferior medial genicular nerve. One bipolar strip lesion (intercannula distance 1.5 cm; anticipated strip lesion length 2.0 cm) at the superior medial and lateral genicular nerves will be made to accommodate anatomical variability.

PROCEDURE

Sham Genicular Radiofrequency Ablation

After the cannulae are placed and tines deployed, a single lesion (no electrical signal applied to patient) will be made at each of the medial and lateral branches of the nerve to the vastus intermedialis, nerves to the vastus lateralis and medialis, recurrent fibular nerve, inferior medial genicular nerve. One bipolar strip lesion (intercannula distance 1.5 cm; anticipated strip lesion length 2.0 cm) at the superior medial and lateral genicular nerves will be made to accommodate anatomical variability.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University of Calgary

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Ashley Smith, PhD · University of Calgary

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
TRIPLE
Model
CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age
50 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2022-05-11
Primary Completion
2026-12-31
Completion
2026-12-31

Countries

  • Canada

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT05283889 on ClinicalTrials.gov