Interventional therapeutic procedures in the musculoskeletal system: an Italian Survey by the Italian College of Musculoskeletal Radiology

Purpose: To perform an online survey among all members of the Italian College of Musculoskeletal Radiology to understand how therapeutic musculoskeletal procedures are performed in daily practice in Italy. Methods: We administered an online survey to all 2405 members about the use of therapeutic musculoskeletal procedures in their institutions asking 16 different questions. Subgroup analysis was performed between general and orthopaedic hospitals with Mann–Whitney U and χ2statistics. Results: A total of 129/2405 answers (5.4% of members) were included in our analysis. A median of 142.5 (25th–75th percentiles: 50–535.5; range 10–5000) therapeutic musculoskeletal procedures per single institution was performed in 2016. Arthropathic pain was the main indication. The most common procedures were joint injection, bursal/tendon injection, and irrigation of calcific tendinopathy. Ultrasound-guided procedures were mainly performed in ultrasonography rooms (77.4%) rather than in dedicated interventional rooms (22.6%). Conversely, fluoroscopic procedures were performed almost with the same frequency in interventional radiology suites (52.4%) and in general radiology rooms (47.6%). In most institutions (72%), autologous blood or components were not used. The median number of therapeutic musculoskeletal procedures performed in orthopaedic hospitals was significantly higher than in general hospitals (P = 0.002), as well as for the use of autologous preparations (P = 0.004). Conclusion: Joint injection, bursal/tendon injection, and irrigation of calcific tendinopathy were the most common therapeutic musculoskeletal procedures, being arthropathic pain the main indication. The percentage of procedures and the use of autologous preparations were significantly higher in orthopaedic hospitals than in general hospitals.