Can Low-Dose Radiation Therapy Treat Arthritis Pain?
A painless treatment option decreases joint inflammation and pain.
You might be able to manage knee pain caused by osteoarthritis with medication, physical therapy and/or steroid shots. If none of these treatments have relieved your pain, you might be a candidate for low-dose radiation therapy (LDRT), a painless, non-invasive treatment that decreases pain in the majority of patients who try it.
LDRT doesn’t reverse joint damage, but it can reduce joint inflammation, which decreases pain. After treatment, you may find it easier to move, with greater range of motion. You should be able to increase your physical activity levels and decrease your need for pain medication. Patients are often astounded at how well LDRT can relieve pain when other treatments don’t work.
Radiation oncologists at ChristianaCare’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute are the first providers in Delaware to have offered low-dose radiation therapy as a treatment for arthritis pain.
Can radiation oncologists treat arthritis pain? Don’t they treat cancer?
While it is true that radiation oncologists primarily treat cancer patients, they can also treat patients with pain from benign conditions like arthritis, tendonitis and connective tissue inflammation. LDRT uses a low dose of radiation therapy to target the immune system. It turns off inflammatory pathways in your affected joint, which decreases chronic joint inflammation and reduces pain.
What body parts can be treated by LDRT?
Clinical data shows that LDRT can effectively relieve:
- Arthritis pain in the knees, hands and feet
- Tendonitis pain, such as tennis elbow and golfer’s elbow
- Plantar fasciitis pain
Is LDRT a safe treatment for pain?
Yes. The amount of radiation that you’re exposed to during LDRT is significantly lower than the amount of radiation exposure that cancer patients receive. It’s roughly as much radiation as a CT scan to the abdomen and pelvis, just concentrated on one joint.
Side effects are uncommon. You won’t get the redness or skin irritation that higher doses of radiation can cause. Research has shown that the low levels of radiation exposure from LDRT don’t increase your future risk of cancer. The same is not true for cancer patients who are exposed to high-dose radiation therapy; they have a small but measurable rate of secondary cancer.
Who can benefit from LDRT?
LDRT is never offered as a first-line treatment for joint pain. It might be an option if medication, physical therapy and/or steroid injections haven’t eased your discomfort. In select patients, it’s used to manage joint pain in the knees, hands, feet and sometimes other joints.
What should patients expect at appointments for LDRT?
During your initial appointment, you’ll meet with a radiation oncologist. They’ll provide information and answer questions about LDRT, so you can decide if you’d like to undergo treatment.
If you decide to move forward, you’ll be scheduled for a specialized CT scan at your next appointment, which providers use to map the anatomy of your joint and design a personalized treatment plan.
A week or two later, your LDRT treatments will begin. You’ll go to sessions every other day for two or three weeks, until you’ve completed six sessions. The appointments are short. You should be in and out within 30 or 45 minutes, and you’ll only be on the table for treatment for about five minutes. You won’t feel anything when the radiation beam is focused on your joint. You’ll leave feeling the same way that you did when you arrived.
What are the typical results?
You might notice a positive pain response before the end of your initial six treatments, or you may not experience the full effect until weeks afterwards. Your radiation oncologist will check in with you two months after your final LDRT session, which gives you enough time to see if you’ve had a good response to the treatment.
At least two-thirds of patients have a positive pain response after one round of treatments. Some patients choose to undergo a second round of six treatments, if the first set wasn’t effective enough. Of those patients, another two-thirds have a positive response.
How long can LDRT reduce pain?
LDRT affects everyone differently, but it often reduces inflammation and joint pain for months, sometimes for a year or more.
In this way, LDRT is similar to steroid shots: Both treatments can improve joint pain for months at a time. Neither is a permanent solution. Unlike a steroid injection, though, LDRT is non-invasive and doesn’t cause any discomfort.
Can you go for LDRT more than once?
Yes, you can have a second cycle of six LDRT treatments if the initial sessions don’t relieve your pain. But you can’t have more than two rounds of LDRT on a single joint. Clinical trials have limited treatment to two rounds, so there isn’t safety data beyond that.
You’ll be able to have LDRT on other joints in the future, even if you have two rounds of treatments on one joint. Some patients have LDRT on their other knee after successful treatment, or they seek relief for foot pain after treatment for knee pain.
You’ll also be eligible for other treatments on the same joint in the future, if appropriate, including steroid shots or surgery.
If your arthritis pain hasn’t responded to other treatments, make an appointment with a radiation oncologist at ChristianaCare’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center to find out if LDRT is right for you. Call (302) 623-4800 to request an appointment.
