That said, Dr. Chang cautions that the study results should not be interpreted as negating the usefulness of steroid injections for some patients.
“However, we don’t want to deter patients from getting an injection,” she said in the press release. “These results are enough to warrant an investigation, not enough to cancel a procedure.”
To date, the study has not been published. [Author’s note: Attempts to obtain further comment from the study authors or information on the publication status were unsuccessful.]
Further information for clinicians on the appropriate use of hip steroid injections may be forthcoming in updated guidelines currently under development by the ACR and the Arthritis Foundation for the pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic management of osteoarthritis of the hand, hip and knee. Dr. Kolasinski, who is the principal investigator working on the guideline, says that a final published guideline is expected in early 2019.
Mary Beth Nierengarten is a freelance medical journalist based in Minneapolis.
References
- Hochberg MC, Altman RD, April KT, et al. American College of Rheumatology 2012 recommendations for the use of nonpharmacologic and pharmacologic therapies in osteoarthritis of the hand, hip, and knee. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2012 Apr;64(4):465–474.
- McCabe PS, Maricar N, Parkes MJ, et al. The efficacy of intra-articular steroids in hip osteoarthritis: A systematic review. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2016 Sep;24(9):1509–1517.
- Chang CY, Simeone FJ, Vicentini JRT, Kattapuram SV. Hip steroid/anesthetic injections: Is there an increased incidence of hip osteoarthritis progression, femoral head osteonecrosis and collapse? Radiological Society of North America Meeting Abstract. 2017.
- Radiological Society of North America. Press Release. Hip steroid injections associated with bone changes. 2017 Nov 29.