Low-Dose Radiation Therapy for Osteoarthritis Now Offered at UC San Diego Health

Newswise — For the 32 million Americans living with osteoarthritis, treatment options have included painkillers, injections or surgery. Now, UC San Diego Health is offering a new option — low-dose radiation therapy (LDRT) for chronic joint pain.

The newly launched clinical program brings a non-invasive treatment long established in Europe to local patients. It has been used in Germany for more than 80 years with strong safety and efficacy data, only recently gaining traction in the U.S. UC San Diego Health is among a small number of leading academic medical centers nationally now offering this treatment.

LDRT works by delivering precisely targeted, very low doses of radiation — less than 5% of what’s typically used in cancer treatment — to inflamed joints over six outpatient sessions over three weeks. Rather than destroying tissue, these low doses of radiation can calm the inflammatory response that drives joint pain, according to expert Evan White, MD, radiation oncologist at UC San Diego Health and associate clinical professor at University of California San Diego School of Medicine, who is available for interviews.

“The best candidates are patients over age 50 with osteoarthritis pain in the extremity joints, including the knees, hips, shoulders, hands and feet,” White said. “The types of patients we typically see are patients who have tried other standard therapies for osteoarthritis, which are either not effective, or no longer working, yet they still have persistent pain in the joint.”

Published clinical data reveals that 60 to 80% of patients experience significant pain relief, with effects lasting months to years with minimal side effects. “When patients have a good response to LDRT, they often have improved physical activity and function in the affected joint,” White said.

UC San Diego Health offers radiation therapy at five locations throughout San Diego County.