Ketorolac or triamcinolone joint injections for thumb osteoarthritis
Compares ketorolac and triamcinolone joint injections in people with thumb osteoarthritis.
Key facts
- Who runs it
- Mayo Clinic
- Where
- Rochester, United StatesSee the site
- Trial code
- Registry title
- NSAID Injection Versus Corticosteroid Injection for Basilar Thumb Arthritis
- Status
- Recruiting
- Phase
- Phase 3
- People taking part
- 240 people, planned
- Started
- 28 Jul 2023
- Expected to end
- 31 Dec 2026
- Type of study
- Interventional, 2 groupsOne group gets an existing treatment, for comparison.
- Treatments tested
- Ketorolac
- Triamcinolone
- Record updated
- 23 February 2026
Who can take part
AI summary
From the trial's eligibility criteria. Machine-read from the registry text on this page, so it can be wrong. The registry text below and the trial team decide who can take part.
The trial is looking for adults over 40 with arthritis at the base of the thumb. They get either a ketorolac or a triamcinolone injection into the joint.
- Age
- Over 40 years
- Sex
- All sexes
- Disease stage
- Arthritis at the thumb base seen on X-ray, Eaton-Littler stages 1 through 4. Pain when the thumb base is pressed (grind test) and when moving it.
- Earlier treatment
- Pain must not have improved with earlier simple care, such as ibuprofen/acetaminophen, icing, splints or braces, or pain creams. No injection into this thumb joint in the previous 6 weeks. No earlier surgery on this thumb.
Main reasons for not taking part
- Allergy to either injected drug
- Pain treatment changed within four weeks before joining
- Inflammatory arthritis such as rheumatoid or psoriatic arthritis, or earlier injury to this thumb
- Severe or uncontrolled high blood pressure, uncontrolled diabetes, infection or a weak immune system
- Pregnant or breastfeeding, or using nicotine now or in the last 12 months
The registry criteria, word for word
Show all 23 criteriaShow less
Who can take part
- Adults >40 years of age
- Pain at the thumb base brought on by direct pressure (grind test) and with movement
- Pain resistant to previous conservative management (including over the counter medications (ibuprofen/acetaminophen), icing, splinting/braces, or topical analgesics)
- Radiological observation indicative of arthritis based on the Eaton-Littler classification system (stages 1 through 4)
- Patient understands the protocol and signed the informed consent
- Patient is covered by health insurance
Who cannot take part
- Patient's analgesic treatment regimen or other modalities of managing symptoms/pain associated with their hand pathology was modified within four weeks before trial inclusion
- Previous thumb surgery on study thumb
- Previous thumb injury on study thumb
- History of injection to the trapeziometacarpal joint on study thumb within the previous 6 weeks
- Patients that are currently using nicotine products, or who have quit in the last 12 months
- • Known allergy to either of the treatment products
- Localized or systemic infection
- Severe and/or uncontrolled hypertension
- Uncontrolled diabetes
- Pregnant or lactating females. Female participants of childbearing potential must have a negative pregnancy test before the injection. Women without childbearing potential (ie., surgically sterile with hysterectomy and/or bilateral oophorectomy and/or bilateral salpingectomy OR ≥ 12 months of amenorrhea and at least 50 years of age) are eligible to participate without completing a pregnancy test
- Symptomatic Scaphoid-trapezial arthritis present
- Patient with inflammatory arthritis (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis)
- De Quervain tendinopathy present
- Immunodeficient patients
- Patients under guardianship, curatorship, or are otherwise not self-sufficient
- Patients participating in another clinical research trial which interferes with this study protocol or outcomes
- Patients unable to follow the protocol in the investigators' judgement
Where in United States
- Mayo ClinicRochester, United StatesContact: Lindsey HobbsTaking people
About the trial
What the trial wants to find out
The Researchers are trying to compare two different types of intraarticular injections (injection in the joint) for treating the symptoms of moderate to advanced basilar thumb arthritis. One injection is ketorolac (an NSAID) and the other is triamcinolone (a corticosteroid).
The 2 groups in the trial
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)Treatment being tested
Patients will proceed to their injection appointment within 4 weeks of their initial evaluation. At the injection appointment, patients will receive an injection containing 1.0 mL of ketorolac 15 mg/mL (15 mg total of ketorolac).
Treatment: Ketorolac
- CorticosteroidExisting treatment, for comparison
Patients will proceed to their injection appointment within 4 weeks of their initial evaluation. At the injection appointment, patients will receive an injection containing 0.5 mL of triamcinolone 40 mg/mL (20 mg total of triamcinolone).
Treatment: Triamcinolone
Questions to ask the study team
- How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
- Are travel costs paid?
- Can I keep my own doctor?
- What happens if I want to stop?
Contact the study team: see the registry record → Contacts and Locations
Print a page for my doctorData and sources
- Registry record
- Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- Official title
- NSAID Injection Versus Corticosteroid Injection for Basilar Thumb Arthritis: A Randomized, Controlled Trial
- Plain-language title
- Ketorolac or triamcinolone joint injections for thumb osteoarthritisGenerated from the registry record. The registry title is the official one.
- AI summary
- From the trial's eligibility criteria. Read by machine on 14 November 2026.
- Record updated
- 23 February 2026