Meniscal INfiltration of Corticosteroid Guided With Ultra Sonography (MINUS)

Efficacy of Ultrasound-monitored Meniscal Wall Betamethasone Infiltration on Pain in Relation to Degenerative Meniscal Injury: a Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Multicenter Trial.

The value of corticosteroid infiltration of the meniscus wall in the therapeutic strategy is not clearly defined: the data in the literature on the effectiveness of corticosteroid infiltration are heterogeneous and of low level of proof. We hypothesize that corticosteroid infiltration of the meniscal wall under ultrasound control would be effective for rapid relief of degenerative meniscal pain.

The main objective is to evaluate the efficacy of ultrasound-guided meniscal wall infiltration of betamethasone versus ultrasound-guided meniscal wall infiltration of placebo, at 1 month, on meniscal pain in the treatment of meniscal pain of degenerative origin in adult.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Meniscus Lesion
• Intervention / Treatment: Drug: ultrasound-guided betamethasone infiltration of the meniscal wall; Drug: ultrasound-guided isotonic saline (placebo) infiltration of the meniscal wall

Detailed Description

"Meniscal pain" is a very frequent cause of consultation in orthopedics, rheumatology or sports medicine. The management of degenerative meniscal lesions has been the subject of a consensus conference by the French Authority (2008) and a recommendation by the European Society of Sports Traumatology, Knee Surgery and Arthroscopy (ESSKA 2017), which propose symptomatic medical treatment before any surgical management. Conservative medical treatment is the first-line treatment for most patients with symptomatic meniscal injuries with a wide range of therapies including rehabilitation, oral nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, joint injections of corticosteroid, hyaluronic acid, or platelet concentrates, as well as injection of corticosteroids into the posterior meniscal wall. In the therapeutic arsenal, corticosteroid infiltrations of the posterior meniscus wall are those that have been the subject of the most clinical studies, yet the data in the literature on the efficacy of these corticosteroid infiltrations are of low level of evidence. This is why the European Society of Musculoskeletal Radiology's Delphi-based consensus group on musculoskeletal imaging (ESSR) is encouraging the development of clinical research in this field with a placebo control group, in order to allow an objective validation of perimeniscal corticosteroid injection procedures in the treatment of meniscal pain of degenerative origin.

The present study is a multicenter randomized controlled trial in double blind (patient and evaluator) versus placebo. Only the physician performing the infiltration will know the status of the group assigned to the patient (experimental or placebo).

Enrollment will be prospective from the active line of patients followed in the investigating centers. A telephone pre-inclusion visit will be done at least 7 days before the inclusion visit. The inclusion visit, randomization (stratified on the centre) and infiltration will be performed on the same day. The follow-up will include a consultation at 1 month and two phone call at 7 days and 3 months.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 152
• Phase: Phase 3

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Marie FARUCH, MD; Phone Number: +33 05 61 77 22 97; Email: faruch.m@chu-toulouse.fr
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Virginie SICART

Study Locations

• France
  • Toulouse, France
    • Recruiting
    • UHToulouse
    • Contact: Virginie SICART; Email: sicart.v@chu-toulouse.fr
    • Principal Investigator: Marie FARUCH, PU PH

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Localized knee pain with tenderness over the medial or lateral joint space reproduced on clinical examination
• Pain assessed with a VAS score > 4/10 despite first-line medical treatment including the use of tier I or II analgesics or NSAIDs.
• An MRI of the knee performed in the 6 months preceding the operation as part of the pre-treatment assessment
• Medial or lateral degenerative meniscal lesion on MRI consistent with pain, confirmed by an investigating physician
• Affiliation to the Social Security
• Free and informed consent signed by the patient

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patient under curatorship, guardianship or safeguard of justice
• Inability to speak, read or write French fluently
• Patient deprived of liberty
• Patients with psychiatric pathology
• Patient who has had an MRI showing an unstable meniscal lesion: complete vertical tear of more than 10 mm in length, capsulomeniscal disinsertion of more than 10 mm in length, complex tear, T2 hypersignal tear of liquid type with passage of liquid testifying to the spreading of the edges, tear with displaced meniscal fragment, lesion of a posterior meniscal brake, lesion of the meniscotibial or meniscofemoral attachment
• Patient with an MRI showing recent ligament injury(ies) (cruciate ligaments and/or collateral ligaments)
• History of knee trauma less than 3 months
• History of arthroscopy or open surgery of the involved knee,
• History of corticosteroid injection in the knee concerned in the 3 months preceding inclusion,
• Use of NSAIDs and oral corticosteroids during the 48 hours preceding inclusion
• Use of tier 3 analgesics for gonalgia in the 3 months prior to inclusion
• Episodes of knee instability or true locking
• Radiographic gonarthrosis with a Kellgren Lawrence stage >1 authenticated on radiographic images taken within the last 6 months.
• Known inflammatory rheumatism
• Fibromyalgia as determined by the clinical investigator
• Pregnancy and breastfeeding in progress
• Contraindication to the use of injectable corticosteroids: septic arthritis, skin lesions at the injection site, severe coagulation disorders, hypersensitivity to one of the excipients
• Contraindication to the use of systemic corticosteroids: acute infection, untreated and uncontrolled chronic infection, psychiatric or ophthalmological pathologies, unbalanced diabetes, uncontrolled hypertension
• Contraindication to the use of lidocaine: known hypersensitivity to lidocaine hydrochloride, to local anaesthetics with an amide bond or to one of the excipients, patients with recurrent porphyrias
• Patients on anticoagulants

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Triple

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: ultrasound-guided betamethasone infiltration of the meniscal wall; patients allocated to the experimental group will receive a single betamethasone infiltration (1mL) of the meniscal wall under ultrasound guidance.	Drug: ultrasound-guided betamethasone infiltration of the meniscal wall; The perimeniscal injections will be guided by ultrasound with an 18 megahertz (MHz) linear probe under strict aseptic conditions. Doppler will be systematically used before the injection to identify the medial or lateral inferior geniculate artery. The first step will consist of local anesthesia with 2 ml of lidocaine injected into the subcutaneous tissues and close to the meniscus wall using a 25-gauge needle. Using an in-plane approach, a 21-gauge needle will be positioned under ultrasound guidance in the medial or lateral wall of the meniscus. Once the needle touches the meniscus wall, it will be withdrawn 1 mm, and a 1-ml injection of betamethasone into the meniscus wall will be performed.
Placebo Comparator: ultrasound-guided physiological serum infiltration of the meniscal wall; patients allocated to the control group will receive a single placebo infiltration of isotonic saline (1mL) of the meniscal wall under ultrasound guidance.	Drug: ultrasound-guided isotonic saline (placebo) infiltration of the meniscal wall; The perimeniscal injections will be guided by ultrasound with an 18 MHz linear probe under strict aseptic conditions. Doppler will be systematically used before the injection to identify the medial or lateral inferior geniculate artery. The first step will consist of local anesthesia with 2 ml of isotonic saline injected into the subcutaneous tissues and close to the meniscus wall using a 25-gauge needle. Using an in-plane approach, a 21-gauge needle will be positioned under ultrasound guidance in the medial or lateral wall of the meniscus. Once the needle touches the meniscus wall, it will be withdrawn 1 mm, and a 1-ml injection of betamethasone into the meniscus wall will be performed.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
meniscal pain at 1-month follow-up visit	meniscal pain measured using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) rated from 0 to 10 at 1-month follow-up visit compared to baseline VAS score	month 1

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
meniscal pain at 3-month follow-up visit	meniscal pain measured using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) rated from 0 to 10 at 3-month follow-up visit compared to baseline VAS score	month 3
algo-functional scale measured by KOOS score (KNEE INJURY AND OSTEOARTHRITIS OUTCOME SCORE) at the 1-month follow-up visit	KOOS score (algo-functional scale) at 1-month follow-up visit compared to baseline KOOS score	month 1
algo-functional scale measured by KOOS score (KNEE INJURY AND OSTEOARTHRITIS OUTCOME SCORE) at the 3-month follow-up visit	KOOS score (algo-functional scale) at 3-month follow-up visit compared to baseline KOOS score	month 3
adverse events	the occurrence of adverse events (AEs) and serious AEs (SAEs) up to 3 months of follow-up	month 3
Analgesic response at the 1-month follow-up visit	Analgesic response is defined as a at least 50% reduction in pain (measured using the VAS scale) between the initial visit and the 1-month follow-up visit	month 1

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University Hospital, Toulouse
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Marie FARUCH, MD, University Hospital, Toulouse

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): March 6, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): June 1, 2028
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 1, 2028

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: July 24, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 24, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): July 30, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): December 4, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 26, 2025
• Last Verified: November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Ultrasonography; Meniscus; Randomized controlled Trial; Betamethasone Injections
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Physiological Effects of Drugs; Anti-Inflammatory Agents; Glucocorticoids; Hormones; Hormones, Hormone Substitutes, and Hormone Antagonists; Respiratory System Agents; Anti-Asthmatic Agents; Betamethasone
• Other Study ID Numbers: RC31/23/0387; 2023-510079-74-00 (Ctis)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No