Comparison of corticosteroid, autologous blood or sclerosant injections for chronic tennis elbow

Abstract Objectives To compare three different ultrasound-guided injections for chronic tennis elbow. Design Assessor-blinded, randomized controlled comparative trial. Methods 44 patients with clinically diagnosed tennis elbow, confirmed by Doppler ultrasound, received under ultrasound guidance, a single corticosteroid injection (n=14), or two injections (separated by 4 weeks) of either autologous blood (n=14) or polidocanol (n=16). Clinical and ultrasound examination was performed at baseline, 4, 12 and 26 weeks. Results Complete recovery or much improvement was greater for corticosteroid injection than autologous blood and polidocanol at 4 weeks (p Conclusions Injections of corticosteroid cannot be recommended over polidocanol or autologous blood, because despite beneficial short-term effect there were inferior long-term effects. Whether polidocanol or autologous blood injections are effective is unknown, especially as their global effect profiles are not unlike previously reported for wait-and-see.