Home Diseases and Conditions Arthritis, Sacroiliac

Arthritis, Sacroiliac

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Development Stage

Early Stage

Focused ultrasound research is in the laboratory phase and is not yet available for patients.

Clinical Trials

Focused ultrasound for this condition is being researched in clinical trials.

International Approval

Focused ultrasound is approved to treat this condition outside the US. Patients can seek commercial treatment at participating international sites.

FDA Approved

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved focus ultrasound for this condition. Patients can seek commercial treatment at participating sites.

Early Stage

Clinical Trials

International

FDA Approved

Focused ultrasound research for this condition is in the laboratory phase and is not yet available for patients.

Focused Ultrasound Therapy

Focused ultrasound is a noninvasive, therapeutic technology with the potential to improve the quality of life and decrease the cost of care for patients with arthritis of the sacroiliac region. This novel technology focuses beams of ultrasound energy precisely and accurately on targets deep in the body without damaging surrounding normal tissue.

How it Works
Where the beams converge, the ultrasound produces precise ablation (thermal destruction of tissue) enabling the nerves that carry painful signals from arthritis to be treated without surgery. 

Advantages
The primary options for treatment of sacroiliac pain include medication and surgical procedures. 

For certain patients, focused ultrasound could provide a noninvasive alternative to surgery with less risk of complications – such as surgical wound healing or infection – at a lower cost. It can reach the desired target without damaging surrounding tissue and is repeatable, if necessary.

Clinical Trials

A clinical trial is in the final stages of organization at UVA for the treatment of sacroiliac arthritis.  

The Foundation updates these pages regularly, but with the increasing number of clinical trials, we want to be sure that our audience has the latest information available. Therefore, we also added the website search information for the above trials. If you click here, it will take you to the latest information available from https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/. 

Regulatory Approval and Reimbursement

Focused ultrasound treatment for sacroiliac arthritis is not yet approved by regulatory bodies or covered by medical insurance companies.

Notable Papers

Case Report: Focused Ultrasound for Sacroiliac Joint Osteoarthritis August 2021

Bulat E, Chaturvedi R, Crowther J, Monette S, Gulati A. Novel use of ultrasound-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) may enable the neuroablation of the sacroiliac joint in a swine model: a feasibility study. Reg Anesth Pain Med. 2025 Jan 19:rapm-2024-105809. doi: 10.1136/rapm-2024-105809. PMID: 39828512 

Najafi A, Sartoretti E, Binkert CA. Sacroiliac Joint Ablation Using MR-HIFU. Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol. 2019 Jun 11. doi: 10.1007/s00270-019-02263-0. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 31187230

Scipione R, Anzidei M, Bazzocchi A, Gagliardo C, Catalano C, Napoli A. HIFU for Bone Metastases and other Musculoskeletal Applications. Semin Intervent Radiol. 2018 Oct;35(4):261-267. doi: 10.1055/s-0038-1673363. Epub 2018 Nov 5. Review.

Kaye EA, Maybody M, Monette S, Solomon SB, Gulati A. Ablation of the sacroiliac joint using MR-guided high intensity focused ultrasound: a preliminary experiment in a swine model. J Ther Ultrasound. 2017 Jun 26;5:17. doi: 10.1186/s40349-017-0095-x. eCollection 2017.

Kaye EA, Monette S, Srimathveeravalli G, Maybody M, Solomon SB, Gulati A. MRI-guided focused ultrasound ablation of lumbar medial branch nerve: Feasibility and safety study in a swine model. Int J Hyperthermia. 2016 Nov;32(7):786-94. doi: 10.1080/02656736.2016.1197972. Epub 2016 Jul 21.

Click here for additional references from PubMed.