Acupunct Med. 2022 Jun 7:9645284221085283. doi: 10.1177/09645284221085283. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To compare the cost-effectiveness of three patellar tendinopathy treatments.

DESIGN: Secondary (cost-effectiveness) analysis of a blinded, randomised controlled trial, with follow-up at 10 and 22 weeks.

SETTINGS: Recruitment was performed in sport clubs. The diagnosis and the intervention were carried out at San Jorge University.

PARTICIPANTS: The participants were adults between 18 and 45 years (n = 48) with patellar tendinopathy.

INTERVENTIONS: Participants received percutaneous needle electrolysis, dry needling or sham needling, all of which were combined with eccentric exercise.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Costs, quality-adjusted life years and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio were calculated for each group.

RESULTS: The total cost per session was similar in the three groups: €9.46 for the percutaneous needle electrolysis group; €9.44 for the dry needling group; and €8.96 for the sham group. The percutaneous needle electrolysis group presented better cost-effectiveness in terms of quality-adjusted life years and 96% and 93% probability of being cost-effective compared to the sham and dry needling groups, respectively.

CONCLUSION: Our study shows that percutaneous needle electrolysis has a greater probability of being cost-effective than sham or dry needling treatment.

PMID:35670045 | DOI:10.1177/09645284221085283