Abstract :
[en] Objective: Plantar fasciitis is the most common cause of talalgia in adults. It can affect a variety of individuals and its etiology is still unknown. Several factors are probably involved (repeated microtrauma; excessive tension, chronic inflammation, etc.). In plantar fasciitis, a bony exostosis can be observed. The latter can also lead to functional disability due to severe pain and therefore has a major impact on quality of life. Several treatments with different efficacy are offered to the patient. The role of radiotherapy is very limited, although it is more frequently applied in Germany. The main objectives of this paper are to evaluate the place of radiotherapy in the therapeutic approach, to confirm its efficacy and to assess the associated risks.
Methods: We were able to evaluate the effectiveness of radiotherapy in plantar fasciitis in patients treated at the University Hospital of Liege between 2010-2020. We followed 7 patients for a total of 10 irradiations. Of the 10 irradiations, the total dose was 3 Gy in 6 cases, 6 Gy in 2 cases and 15 Gy in 2 cases. The unit dose varied between 1-5 Gy. It should be noted that since 2016 and the publication of the recommendations by DEGRO, the doses have been reduced and better standardised. In particular, the unit doses are much lower and no longer exceed 1 Gy.
Results: Out of a total of 10 irradiations, 4 of them led to an abolition of the painful symptomatology and 2 of them led to a clear improvement of the pain at the time of data collection. Furthermore, if we refer to the VAS scale scored between 0-10, 60% of the irradiations result in a score ≤2. It should also be noted that radiotherapy is often only proposed to patients who are refractory to the various conventional treatments. Finally, no early or late adverse events (with a maximum follow-up time of 10 y) were associated with radiotherapy in our series.
Conclusion: The results of our follow-up of the few patients with plantar fasciitis are consistent with the results of large retrospective studies (e.g., German), although we are fully aware that this is a limited number of patients.
