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964 - Infrapatellar Branch of the Saphenous Nerve Radiofrequency Ablation for Refractory Knee Pain

Friday, February 28, 2025

5:00 PM - 6:30 PM MST

Presenting Author(s)

NE

Nafis B. Eghrari, BS

Medical Student
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Cleveland, Ohio, United States

Co-Author(s)

MC

Matthew E. Chen, BA

Medical Student
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Cleveland Heights, Ohio, United States
SK

Sajal Kulhari, BA

Medical Student
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine
Cleveland, Ohio, United States
JM

John MacLean, MD

Resident Physician
MetroHealth Medical Center
Cleveland OH, Ohio, United States

Corresponding Author(s)

Chong Kim, MD

Professor
MetroHealth/ Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, Ohio, United States

Objectives: Chronic knee pain (CKP) is common, and an effective treatment option invovles the targeting of the genicular nerves with radiofrequency ablation (RFA). RFA of the genicular nerve, or genicular nerve ablation (GNA), for CKP traditionally includes several nerves, the superior lateral, superior medial, and inferior medial. More recently, other nerves, such as the infrapatellar branch of the saphenous nerve (IFBS) have been investigated. This study aimed to evaluate the role of RFA of the IFBS in patients with medial knee pain refractory to traditional GNA for chronic knee pain.

Design: This project retrospectively reviewed patients who had received traditional GNA for chronic refractory knee pain. Those without significant and lasting relief, with mostly medial knee pain, were included.

Results: 30 patients were included in the study. All had positively responded (greater than 50% pain relief) to traditional genicular blocks without significant and lasting relief with GNA. Of the 30, 7 had mostly medial knee pain. All 7 underwent local blocks of the IFBS nerve. The subjects noted an average of 84% relief with the nerve blocks and 72% with the RFA with 5.6 months for the average duration of relief.

Conclusions: Thus, In patients with medial knee pain, in addition to the traditional nerve targets, the IFBS nerve is a promising target that could also be considered. Further investigation on the effectiveness of targeting the IFBS nerve for knee pain is warranted in larger patient populations.