Abstract / Summary
Chronic hip pain is a common condition that can affect a person's overall quality of life.Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) has gained attention as a minimally invasive technique that can reduce pain by targeting the small sensory nerves around the hip joint.While early reports are encouraging, clinical studies have shown mixed results.This meta-analysis aimed to clarify the efficacy of RFA in the management of chronic hip pain.A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted using PubMed/Medline, Scopus, and Cochrane databases from January 2007 to June 2025 to identify studies reporting clinical outcomes of hip RFA.Standardized mean differences (Hedges' g) and pooled percentage changes in pain were calculated using a random-effects model.Sensitivity, subgroup, and interaction analyses assessed the influence of RFA type, imaging guidance, and study design.Across 449 patients, RFA produced significant pain reduction at all time points: 61% at early-term (one month) (39.09%, 83.06%), 58% at short-term (three months) (34.85, 81.12), 45% at mid-term (six months) (30.24%, 59.56%), and 35% at long-term (nine months) (19.29%, 50.79%).Effect sizes were largest within the first three months (g=5.9443(3.2384, 8.6501)).Subgroup analyses revealed no significant differences among RFA types, whereas combined ultrasound-fluoroscopy guidance tended to yield better outcomes than either guidance modality alone.This review demonstrates that RFA is an effective and safe minimally invasive therapy for management of chronic hip pain, offering substantial pain reduction in the early-and short-term periods.