Methods

NICE identified studies and reviews relevant to radiofrequency denervation for osteoarthritic knee pain from the medical literature. The following databases were searched between the date they started to 1^st August 2022: MEDLINE, PREMEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library and other databases. Trial registries and the internet were also searched (see the literature search strategy). Relevant published studies identified during consultation or resolution that are published after this date may also be considered for inclusion.

The following inclusion criteria were applied to the abstracts identified by the literature search.

Publication type: clinical studies were included with emphasis on identifying good quality studies. Abstracts were excluded if they did not report clinical outcomes. Reviews, editorials, and laboratory or animal studies, were also excluded and so were conference abstracts, because of the difficulty of appraising study methodology, unless they reported specific adverse events that not available in the published literature.
Patients with osteoarthritic knee pain.
Intervention or test: radiofrequency denervation.
Outcome: articles were retrieved if the abstract contained information relevant to the safety, efficacy, or both.

If selection criteria could not be determined from the abstracts the full paper was retrieved.

Potentially relevant studies not included in the main evidence summary are listed in the section on other relevant studies.

Find out more about how NICE selects the evidence for the committee.

Databases	Date searched	Version/files
MEDLINE (Ovid)	01/08/2022	1946 to July 29, 2022
MEDLINE In-Process (Ovid)	01/08/2022	1946 to July 29, 2022
MEDLINE Epubs ahead of print (Ovid)	01/08/2022	July 29, 2022
EMBASE (Ovid)	01/08/2022	1974 to 2022 July 29
EMBASE Conference (Ovid)	01/08/2022	1974 to 2022 July 29
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews – CDSR (Cochrane Library)	01/08/2022	Issue 8 of 12, August 2022
Cochrane Central Database of Controlled Trials – CENTRAL (Cochrane Library)	01/08/2022	Issue 7 of 12, July 2022
International HTA database (INAHTA)	01/08/2022	-

Trial sources searched February 2022

Clinicaltrials.gov
ISRCTN
WHO International Clinical Trials Registry

Websites searched

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
NHS England
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) - MAUDE database
Australian Safety and Efficacy Register of New Interventional Procedures – Surgical (ASERNIP – S)
Australia and New Zealand Horizon Scanning Network (ANZHSN)
General internet search

MEDLINE search strategy

The MEDLINE search strategy was translated for use in the other sources.

Strategy used.

1 Radiofrequency Ablation/

2 ((radiofrequen* or radio-frequen* or radio frequen* or rf) adj4 ablat*).tw.

3 (Radio* adj4 frequen* adj4 ablat*).tw.

4 ((catheter* or needle* or electrode* or heat* or (transvenous adj1 electric*)) adj4 ablat*).tw.

5 RFA.tw.

6 Catheter Ablation/

7 ((radiofrequen* or radio-frequen* or radio frequen* or rf) adj4 (ablat* or leson* or neurotom* or rhizomot*)).tw.

8 Pulsed Radiofrequency Treatment/

9 ((Conventio* or pulse* or cool*) adj4 Radiofrequen*).tw.

10 (CRF or PRF).tw.

11 Denervation/

12 denervat*.tw.

13 or/1-12

14 Osteoarthritis, Knee/

15 exp Knee Joint/

16 OA.ti,ab.

17 ((knee* or patella* or meniscal* or articular* or patellofem*) adj4 (OA or osteoarthrit* or cartilag* or degenerat* or diseas* or deteriorat* or injur* or defect*)).ti,ab.

18 ((knee* or patella* or meniscal* or articula* or patellofem*) adj4 (cartilage* or joint* or cap*) adj4 (degenerat* or diseas* or deteriorat* or injur* or defect*)).ti,ab.

19 Gonarthrosis*.ti,ab.

20 (degenerativ* adj4 arthriti*).ti,ab.

21 Genicul* neuroto*.tw.

22 or/14-21

23 13 and 22

24 COOLIEF.tw.

25 CRFA.tw.

26 24 or 25

27 23 or 26

28 Animals/ not Humans/

29 27 not 28

30 limit 29 to english language

How are you taking part in this consultation?

Interventional procedure overview of radiofrequency denervation for osteoarthritic knee pain

Methods