(Platinum Clinic) Severe Shoulder Pain from Calcific Tendinitis -- How Do We Treat It?

Hello. I am Dr. Dongkyu Lee, an orthopedic specialist. Calcific tendinitis, which causes extreme pain, is likely something you have heard of. For comprehensive information about calcific tendinitis, please see the link below. https://blog.naver.com/9690067/222715261641

In severe cases, pain scores reach 9 out of 10. Imagine how excruciating that must be... Some patients decide on surgery immediately due to the extreme pain, while others want surgery but must endure the pain due to personal circumstances -- business, work, or childcare responsibilities... Some patients rely on periodic anti-inflammatory/pain injections and ongoing shockwave therapy. Despite all this, the condition recurs repeatedly with extreme pain... Quality of life deteriorates, insomnia from pain, and even depression -- quite a number of patients experience this. When patients come to me in this condition, I explain "barbotage" -- a same-day non-surgical treatment for calcific tendinitis. Surprisingly, a large majority of these patients had never heard of barbotage. At university hospitals, most patients only receive medication or are recommended surgery. At specialized clinics, most receive only pain injections or surgical recommendations. This may explain why. Of course, surgery may be necessary in some cases. But calcific tendinitis can be sufficiently treated non-surgically.

Barbotage requires a certain level of experience to perform properly. The fragmentation technique varies depending on the calcium characteristics, and minimizing rotator cuff damage while removing calcium requires experience. Ultrasound proficiency is essential, and the fragmentation methods and instruments also affect procedure success rates.

I use custom-manufactured guides and tips for calcium fragmentation. With these specialized instruments, even hard calcium can be much more effectively fragmented and removed. Today's case involves a patient who suffered greatly from calcific tendinitis but could not have surgery due to business commitments. Traveling from Busan, they had been diagnosed and told by another hospital that surgery was needed. But surgery was not an option, so they came to me pleading for help. Let's look at the X-ray.

Same-day barbotage was performed.

The video shows precise targeting under ultrasound, calcium fragmentation, and aspiration through the syringe. The initially clear saline becomes increasingly cloudy as fragmented calcium is aspirated.

A post-procedure X-ray was taken.

After the procedure, the patient reported almost no pain and was extremely happy. The stress of being unable to have surgery despite severe pain due to business had taken a tremendous toll... The patient returned to Busan and was scheduled for a follow-up in 4 weeks. Given the distance, frequent visits were not possible, so I recommended 5 sessions of shockwave therapy in Busan for the remaining calcium.

Let's look at the progression.

The patient said they never knew such a treatment existed and wished they had known earlier... They said they suffered needlessly because they did not know... They were happy to be healed but also felt frustrated about the unnecessary suffering... Searching the internet nowadays yields some information... I will make more effort to let patients know that effective treatments exist.

I hope no one has to suffer from calcific tendinitis any longer.