Evaluation of Percutaneous Tenotomy of the Gluteus Medius and Iliotibial Band for Greater Trochanteric Pain Syndrome (GTPS): A Randomized Clinical Trial

Greater trochanteric pain syndrome (GTPS) is one of the most common causes of lateral hip pain in adults. GTPS is repetitive overload tendinopathy of the gluteus medius (GMed) and Iliotibial band (ITB), which play a primary role in hip abduction and pelvic stabilization in walking, stair climbing, running and standing on one leg. It is thought that the core pathology is greater trochanteric bursitis (TB) with or without coexisting gluteal tendinopathy. Some common etiologies include prolonged excessive pressure to the area, injury to the side of the hip, and repetitive movements; however, local steroid injections to the greater TB are not often successful over the long-term. The best estimates of prevalence are from a large, community-based study with over 3000 adults aged 50 to 70 years, in which unilateral GTPS was present in 15 percent of women and 6.6 percent of men. Patients who have not improved after at least 12 months of conservative medical management (CMM), including physical therapy, oral medications, or a local steroid injection have no other conservative treatment recourse. Open surgery for GMed or ITB tears is not recommended unless a tear is diagnosed on MRI. Based on a published study, a 60% improvement was shown in pain with the performance of TENEX of the GMed.

The purpose of this project is to study the outcome of GMed and ITB PUT on CMM refractory GTPS. We want to quantify and show the scales of the pain in pre-operative and post-treatment cases. We also want to see how effective the surgery is in specific terms of pain levels because GTPS is a pain syndrome and reduction in pain level is the most important clinical factor.

Patient Reported Outcome Measure (PROM) is one of the main outcomes that medical research is validated with and through this study we want to show the most important outcome of GTPS i.e., pain level (PROM for GTPS). Previous studies which focused on surgical outcomes have been mostly single-center trials.

Pain and mobility impact patients' Quality of Life (QoL) and medical cost burden due to unemployment, psychosocial well-being, and functional dependence. The standard of care offered to address the pain and mobility needs of those with GTPS is to provide CMM, followed by open or arthroscopic surgery if surgery is indicated. However, there is a treatment gap for those patients who have failed CMM and are not surgical candidates. The authors submit that TENEX of the GMed and ITB may address this gap. The results from this research may have broad impacts on the treatment algorithm for patients with GTPS.