A Prospective Study of Low Dose Radiation Therapy in Osteoarthritis of Hands

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis in the world. In India, around 23.46 million individuals had OA in 1990 which increased to 62.35 million in 2019. OA was the 20th most common cause disability in India in 2019, increasing from 23rd most common cause in 1990. Knee OA is the most common form of OA in India, followed by hand OA. Radiation therapy (RT) has been used to treat benign conditions for over a century. Conventional and hypofractionated RT have anti-proliferative principles that are used in the treatment of malignant disorders. Alternatively, at doses of less than 1 Gray (Gy) per fraction, RT has been shown to have strong anti-inflammatory effects. By using anti-inflammatory properties, low dose radiation therapy (LDRT) has been used to successfully treat painful musculoskeletal conditions such as plantar fasciitis, trochanteric bursitis, medial and lateral epicondylitis, tendinopathies of various joints, and osteoarthritis (OA) of both large and small joints have been shown to benefit from LDRT. This study will try to assess the role of Low Dose Radiation Therapy for pain management in patients with OA of the hands which is refractory to pain medications and/or needs too many pain medications for management.