The IORBC welcomes a very large clinical study on Plantar Heel Spur Syndrome from Turkey: Low-dose Radiation Treatment for Painful Heel Spur: a Highly Effective Therapy With Little Side Effects.

IORBC President Richard Shaffer, MBBS, and Bobby Koneru, MD, have co-authored an article about the remarkable symptomatic responses within the Leonard Ferguson Cancer Center for low dose radiotherapy (LDRT) when treating osteoarthritis.

The article has been published in the spring 2024 edition of ASTROnews, titled: A 'Beacon of Hope’ for osteoarthritis — The Leonard Ferguson Cancer Center Experience.

Drs Richard Shaffer & Bobby Koneru noted an average pain reduction from 7/10 to 3/10 (on a numerical rating scale of 0 to 10) when measuring the effectiveness of LDRT for osteoarthritis, coupled with improvements in ‘range of motion, functional abilities, and quality of life’.

Treatment response can be influenced by a number of baseline factors, such as ‘symptom duration, radiological stage, age, gender, inflammatory status, radiotherapy dose parameters, total dose, timing, and number of phases’

Since 2023 their LDRT program has treated over 75 new osteoarthritis patients, addressing more than 125 joints. However, Drs Richard Shaffer & Bobby Koneru point out that, despite the prevalence of LDRT use in Central Europe, the method remains underutilised in North America — but encouragingly, interest is growing.

At the IORBC we hope that these positive findings help to further motivate centres in North America, and across the world, to adopt LDRT — particularly in addressing the substantial gap that exists between conservative measures and surgical options.

To read the full article please visit the link below:

Read the full article here [page 25]:

Astro news Spring 2024: A 'Beacon of Hope’ for osteoarthritis by Drs. Shaffer and Koneru

Authors:

Bobby Koneru, MD, and Richard Shaffer, MBBS