Steroid shot could ease knee pain without surgery
NCT ID NCT06527235
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This study tests whether a steroid injection into the wall of the meniscus (a cushion in the knee) can reduce pain from a degenerative meniscus tear. About 152 adults with knee pain will receive either the steroid or a placebo injection, guided by ultrasound. The main goal is to see if pain is lower after one month.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- betamethasone (a corticosteroid)
- What this could lead to
- If it works, this could offer a quick, non-surgical option for knee pain from a torn meniscus.
- What could go wrong
- This is a relatively small trial, and previous studies on steroid injections for this condition have shown mixed results. The benefit may be short-term or no better than placebo.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Phase 3
Large-scale testing in a bigger group. Usually the last step before a treatment can be approved.
- Participants
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About 152 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Mar 2025
- Expected to finish
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Jun 2028
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 years and older
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
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
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Genom att skicka in godkänner du våra Användarvillkor
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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UHToulouse
RECRUITINGToulouse, France
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Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
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- Bone marrow wrap boosts meniscus repair in new study
- Knee surgery recovery boosted by simple injection, study finds
- New rehab trick may boost knee recovery after meniscus repair
- Ultrasound vs. MRI: which is better for knee meniscus diagnosis?
- Knee scaffold implants show promise in small study