The limitation of this study is the lack of a control group and relatively medium term follow up.
Encouraging results with adequate recruitment and medium term follow up have been published in terms of local control and tolerability, the majority of them with the use of catheter-based interstitial brachytherapy [ 4].
Seven studies recorded medium term follow-up, with six recording outcomes for pain and disability [ 45, 68– 76, 77] 77], and one just pain [ 75].
Meanwhile, medium term follow-up of those patients proceeding on the randomised study confirmed the excellent prognosis of those who respond to such therapy.
Studies in the short and medium term follow-up have reported that meniscal extrusion is correlated with poor results in patients undergoing meniscal transplantation, however it is not well known whether these findings will produce degenerative changes in the long term follow-up [ 13, 18, 20].
This approach has been shown to be more effective than general nutrition information, especially for reduction of dietary fat intake [ 33], although effect sizes are mostly small and apply only to the short and medium term (follow-up up to six months) [ 34].
At a medium term follow-up (average 16 months), the authors observed better scores in the visual analogue scale (VAS) scale, in the American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) scoring system and in the Foot and Ankle Ability Measure (FAAM), compared to that of control cases.
Although studies that measured short-term treatment effects consistently had slightly larger mean effects than studies in the medium-term follow up group, no statistically significant relationship between length of follow up and treatment effect was observed for any of the outcomes for which we had data.
Although other studies have shown that improvements following training persist at medium-term follow-up [ 26], it is possible that the relatively more plastic infant brain is more readily trainable but that these improvements dissipate more rapidly.
These early hemodynamic results are maintained at medium-term follow-up.
