A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 3 RCTs with a total of 93 subjects with rotator cuff disease. One placebo-controlled trial (20 participants) tested 5 mg glyceryl trinitrate patches, used daily for 3 days, among participants with 'acute supraspinatus tendinitis' of less than 7 days duration. Treatment resulted in reduced pain intensity (adjusted MD -3.50, 95% CI -3.96 to -3.04). Function was not measured. One trial (53 participants) compared one quarter of a 5 mg glyceryl trinitrate patch used daily for up to 24 weeks combined with rehabilitation to placebo patches and rehabilitation among participants with 'supraspinatus tendinopathy' for longer than 6 months. A third trial (48 participants) tested 5 mg glyceryl trinitrate patches, used daily for 3 days, compared to corticosteroid injection among participants with 'rotator cuff tendinitis' of less than 6-weeks duration. An appropriate measure of pain was not reported and function was not measured. Fifteen out of 24 participants in the glyceryl trinitrate treatment reported headache (RR 0.11, 95% CI 0.01 to 1.96).
Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by imprecise results (few patients) and by inconsistency (heterogeneity in studied interventions and outcomes).
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