South Africa joins global shift towards minimally invasive joint pain treatment - IOL

A new multidisciplinary centre has opened in South Africa, bringing orthopaedic surgery, interventional radiology and physiotherapy together to expand treatment options for people living with chronic joint and musculoskeletal pain.

Joint Centre SA focuses on joint preservation and minimally invasive therapies, while giving patients access to specialists who can assess their condition and determine the most appropriate treatment pathway.

The centre brings together interventional radiologists from Cape Town Interventional Radiology, orthopaedic surgeons and physiotherapists who practise at different hospitals. This allows patients to access treatment at various facilities depending on their needs, with Mediclinic Constantiaberg serving as the centre’s main hospital.

Rather than approaching patients through one speciality, the centre assesses the cause and severity of pain, mobility, lifestyle and individual treatment goals.

Treatment could include physiotherapy, conservative management, minimally invasive image-guided procedures or surgery.

One of the treatment options offered is musculoskeletal embolisation, an emerging field of interventional radiology in which abnormal blood vessels linked to chronic inflammation and pain are selectively targeted using image-guided techniques.

Procedures include Genicular Artery Embolisation for selected patients with knee osteoarthritis, as well as treatments for persistent plantar fasciitis, chronic shoulder conditions, hip-region pain and Achilles tendinopathy.

The centre stressed that embolisation is not suitable for every patient and is not intended to replace surgery where an operation remains the best option.

Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Marc Nortje said the approach would give patients access to a broader range of treatments.

“It represents a new approach to joint care, bringing leading expertise together to give patients access to a broader range of treatment options,” Nortje said.

Interventional radiologist Dr Dale Creamer said patients were too often faced with a single treatment pathway when several options could be considered.

Physiotherapist Mohammed Sonday said complex musculoskeletal conditions often required input from several disciplines, but this type of collaborative care was not always readily available.

The centre aims to reduce pain, preserve mobility and help patients access the most appropriate treatment at the right stage of their condition.