A Literature Synthesis Indicates Very Low Quality, but Consistent Evidence of Improvements in Function after Surgical Interventions for Primary Osteoarthritis of the Elbow

Table 1

Summary table for outcomes of open joint debridement-1.

Study and year	Design	Level of evidence	𝑛	Followup; (in months)	Pain Δ	ROM Δ	Function Δ
Ugurlu et al., 2009 [10]	Retrospective case study	IV	10	18	VAS (before 8; after 3.1)	49.3	Andrews and Carson scoring (before 88.5 to after 168.5)
Rettig et al., 2008 [11]	Case series	IV	18 (21 elbows)	65	Good improvement in pain. No measure described	30	MEPI (after 85.8)
Tashjian et al., 2006 [12]	Case series	IV	17 (18 elbows)	85	VAS	16	(i) Hospital for special surgery elbow score after 70 (9 good to excellent results); (ii) MEPI after 83 (15 good to excellent results); (iii) DASH after 9.75; (iv) VAS Function 7.9 after; (v) SF-36
Wada et al., 2004 [13]	Case series	IV	32 (33 elbows)	121	before 13 improved to after 27	24	JOA elbow scoring system (before 60 to after 83)
Vingerhoeds et al., 2004 [14]	Case series	IV	15 (16 elbows)	20	Good pain relief. No measure reported	20	MEPI (before 63 to after 88)