NCT02677103

Brief Summary

Calcific tendinitis of the shoulder is a common enthesopathy, and is characterized by inflammation around calcium hydroxyapatite crystal deposits, usually located in the supraspinatus tendon, near its insertion place.1 The disease mainly affects individuals between 30 and 50 years of age, is painful in 50% of patients and frequently leads to considerable restriction of motion.2,3 It goes through three distinct stages: a precalcific stage (metaplasia of matrix), calcific stage (calcification of matrix and resorption of calific deposits), and a postcalcific stage (reconstitution of matrix). Classifications of calcific tendinitis have been proposed previously. Gartner proposed a classification based on plain films of the shoulder: type I deposits were sharply outlined and densely structured. Type III deposits had a cloudy outline and were transparent in structure. Type II deposits were features of both.4 Type III plaques have a tendency to resorb. Due to the progress of musculoskeletal ultrasound over the past decade, classification of the calcific tendinitis based on ultrasound findings was also proposed: arc-shaped (an echogenic arc with clear shadowing), fragmented or punctate (at least 2 separated echogenic spots or plaques with or without shadowing), nodular (an echogenic nodule without shadowing), and cystic (a bold echogenic wall with an anechoic area).5 Plaques that appear fragmented, nodular, or cystic on ultrasound are considered in the resorptive phase. The treatment of patients with calcific tendinitis is typically conservative. The reported success rates vary between 30 and 85%.6 If the pain becomes chronic or intermittent after several months of conservative treatment, arthroscopic and open procedures are available to curette the calcium deposit, and additional subacromial decompression can be performed if necessary.7,8 As an alternative, minimally invasive extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) has been postulated to be an effective treatment option for treating calcific tendinopathy of the shoulder, before surgery.9-12 In recent years, radial shock wave has been developed. A radial shock wave is a low- to medium-energy shock wave that is pneumatically generated through acceleration of a projectile inside the handpiece of the treatment device and then transmitted radially from the tip of the applicator to the target zone. Radial shock wave showed a low pressure and a considerably longer rise time than extracorporeal shock wave. In radial shock wave therapy (RSWT), the focal point is not concentrated on the target zone, as occurred in ESWT, but on the tip of applicator. 13 Another new method of conservative treatment of calcific tendinopathy is ultrasound-guided fine-needle repeated puncture of the calcific plaque, as shown in previous study.14,15 The new method has the advantage of being easily operative, cheap, safe, and has a proven high success rate. Although percutaneous needle aspiration with a large size needle(≥ 18# needle) alleviates symptoms in up to 60% of patients and resolves the deposits in 40% to 74%,16,17 the larger size needle could result in tendon injury. In clinical practice, combination of radial shock wave therapy and ultrasound-guided fine needle repeated puncture is frequently used and shows promising results, however, scientific report has been rarely published before.18 The purpose of this study is to compare the efficacy of RSWT, ultrasound-guided fine needle puncture (USNP), and combination of RSWT and USNP in the treatment of calcific tendinitis of shoulder.

Trial Health

87
On Track

Trial Health Score

Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach

Enrollment
61

participants targeted

Target at P25-P50 for not_applicable

Timeline
Completed

Started Apr 2013

Geographic Reach
1 country

1 active site

Status
completed

Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.

Trial Relationships

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Study Timeline

Key milestones and dates

Study Start

First participant enrolled

April 1, 2013

Completed
1.3 years until next milestone

Primary Completion

Last participant's last visit for primary outcome

August 1, 2014

Completed
Same day until next milestone

Study Completion

Last participant's last visit for all outcomes

August 1, 2014

Completed
1 month until next milestone

First Submitted

Initial submission to the registry

September 2, 2014

Completed
1.4 years until next milestone

First Posted

Study publicly available on registry

February 9, 2016

Completed
Last Updated

March 25, 2016

Status Verified

March 1, 2016

Enrollment Period

1.3 years

First QC Date

September 2, 2014

Last Update Submit

March 24, 2016

Conditions

Keywords

Radial shock wave therapy,calcific tendinitis, ultrasound guidance

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

  • Pain (VAS)

    VAS; horizontal lines of 100 mm, with 0 indicating no pain on the left and 100 indicating very severe pain on the right. A VAS has been found to be reliable and sensitive tool for measuring pain, with test-retest reliability of \>0.90. In previous studies of subjects treated for various shoulder disorders, the responsiveness of VAS for pain was moderate to good.

    1.5 month, 3 months after the treatment.

Secondary Outcomes (4)

  • Active ROM and passive ROM

    .5 month, 3 months after the treatment.

  • General health status: 36-Item Shot-Form Health Survey (SF-36)

    1.5 month, 3 months after the treatment.

  • Shoulder problems

    .5 month, 3 months after the treatment.

  • Patients' satisfaction

    1.5 month, 3 months after the treatment.

Study Arms (3)

RSWT group

EXPERIMENTAL

The RSWT was delivered at 2 Hz with 2000 shock waves and the energy level of 0.26mJ/mm2 in calcific tendinitis of shoulder. RSWT will be performed once per week, and will be continued for 3 weeks.

Device: radial extracorporeal shock wave therapy

USNP group

EXPERIMENTAL

All needle punctures will be guided by ultrasound (US). The puncture needle is a 3.8cm 22# needle attached on a 5ml syringe. Before puncture, the skin of the puncture site will be sterilized with better iodine, and the transducer will be covered with a sterilized plastic bag. After injecting 3cc 1% Xylocain in the subcutaneous tissue, muscle layer and subdeltoid bursa, multiple back-and-forth puncture about 10-20 times (depending on the size of the plaques) within the calcific plaques will be performed. The needle tract will be monitored by ultrasound to make sure the needle penetrated through the calcific plaque, but does not penetrate the rotator cuff.

Procedure: ultrasound-guided needle puncture

RSWT plus USNP

EXPERIMENTAL

In this group, each subject will receive radial shock wave therapy after ultrasound-guided needle puncture, as described in the previous paragraphs

Procedure: RSWT and USNP

Interventions

he RSWT was delivered at 2 Hz with 2000 shock waves and the energy level of 0.26mJ/mm2 in calcific tendinitis of shoulder.

Also known as: RSWT
RSWT group

After injecting 3cc 1% Xylocain in the subcutaneous tissue, muscle layer and subdeltoid bursa, multiple back-and-forth puncture about 10-20 times (depending on the size of the plaques) within the calcific plaques will be performed.

Also known as: USNP
USNP group
RSWT and USNPPROCEDURE

each subject will receive radial shock wave therapy after ultrasound-guided needle puncture, as described in the previous paragraphs.

RSWT plus USNP

Eligibility Criteria

Age20 Years - 75 Years
Sexall
Healthy VolunteersNo
Age GroupsAdult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

  • Age 20\~75 y
  • Subject with calcific tendinitis of the shoulder.

You may not qualify if:

  • pregnancy, clotting disorders, anticoagulant or antiplatelet treatment, cardiac pacemaker, chronic inflammatory joint disease, infections or tumors of the shoulder, adhesive capsulitis, hyperalgia of the shoulder due to resorption of a calcific deposit, and calcification of type III as defined by Gartner or nodular or cystic type of calcification defined by Chiou.

Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.

Sponsors & Collaborators

Study Sites (1)

Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital

Taipei, Taiwan

Location

Study Officials

  • Lin-Fen Hsieh, M.D

    Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital

    PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

Study Type
interventional
Phase
not applicable
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Masking
NONE
Purpose
TREATMENT
Intervention Model
PARALLEL
Sponsor Type
OTHER
Responsible Party
SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

First Submitted

September 2, 2014

First Posted

February 9, 2016

Study Start

April 1, 2013

Primary Completion

August 1, 2014

Study Completion

August 1, 2014

Last Updated

March 25, 2016

Record last verified: 2016-03

Locations