More than growing pains: Eli’s journey to osteoid osteoma relief

How accurate diagnosis and radiofrequency ablation helped address the source of pain

5-minute read

For years, Eli and his family searched for an explanation.

What started as occasional discomfort in his leg gradually became something much more serious. The pain would come without warning, often at night, and became so intense that it brought him to tears.

“I didn’t think much of it at first,” Eli recalled. “It just didn’t feel comfortable. But eventually it got bad enough that at nighttime, it had me in tears.”

His mother, Megan, knew something wasn’t right.

“There would be no rhyme or reason for the pain,” she said. “Sometimes he would be moving, shaking and very vocal about it. It wasn’t tied to activity. We noticed it most when he was trying to sit still.”

During routine checkups with his physician, the family shared their concerns, but the symptoms were initially attributed to growing pains. As the months passed, the pain continued to worsen.

“It felt like somebody cut open my leg and was digging an ice pick into it,” Eli said.

For Megan, watching her son suffer was heartbreaking.

“In those moments when it was bad, he was panicky,” she said. “As a parent, you can’t do anything about it.”

Finding answers at last

When Eli's physician referred him to an orthopedic clinic, everything changed.

After reviewing an X-ray, Dr. Maaz Ghouri, an Interventional Radiologist at Wellstar MCG Health Medical Center, immediately suspected something more than growing pains.

“When I looked at the X-ray, I knew it wasn't growing pains,” Dr. Ghouri said. “It had features of a condition called osteoid osteoma, a benign bone tumor that can cause severe pain, especially at night.”

A CT scan confirmed the diagnosis.

Osteoid osteoma is a benign bone tumor most often found in the long bones and typically affecting patients between the ages of 5 and 25. Because anatomy can vary, accurate imaging and treatment planning are important.¹

By that point, the pain had become a constant part of Eli's daily life. It disrupted his sleep, affected his concentration and made it harder to enjoy the activities he loved. The pain had become so severe that he rated it an 8 out of 10, reflecting just how much it had taken over his everyday life.

While the diagnosis was unexpected, it also brought relief.“

Of course Eli did the whole, ‘I told you so,’ because he’d been saying all along that it wasn’t growing pains,” Megan said. “But we finally had answers, and we knew there was a way to take care of it.”

A minimally invasive treatment option

Despite years of pain, Eli remained focused on the things that mattered most to him, especially martial arts. However, the pain and lack of sleep were making it increasingly difficult for him to participate fully in the activity he loved.

“He had suffered so much that he felt like he was losing out on the one thing he was passionate about,” Dr. Ghouri said.

Following diagnosis, Dr. Ghouri recommended treatment with the OptaBlate^® bone tumor ablation system as part of Eli’s care plan.

“Of all the treatment options available, radiofrequency ablation was the best choice because of the osteoid osteoma’s location. It allowed us to treat it in a planned and controlled manner.”

Given the lesion location and treatment goals, image-guided radiofrequency ablation offered a minimally invasive approach capable of targeting the nidus while minimizing disruption to surrounding tissue.

For physicians treating osteoid osteoma, probe selection can be an important consideration, particularly when anatomy may be smaller and more variable. OptaBlate straight and curved probes are available in 10mm, 15mm and 20mm sizes, with both straight and curved 10mm options available to accommodate smaller anatomies.*

During Eli’s procedure, the probe was advanced directly into the nidus, and ablation was performed at 85°C for seven minutes.

Although Eli was under anesthesia, his heart rate increased when the biopsy device entered the nidus and again at the onset of ablation. Similar responses have been described in other case series during osteoid osteoma procedures and may be associated with stimulation of pain receptors within the lesion.

For Dr. Ghouri, the treatment offered a precise and controlled way to target the source of Eli's pain. For Eli and his family, however, the decision felt much simpler.

“We never really second-guessed it,” she said. “We were ready to get this thing taken care of.”

Back to doing what he loves

For the first time in years, Eli wasn’t planning around pain. He was planning around martial arts, school and the activities he loves.

The results came quickly. Within days of the procedure, he no longer needed ibuprofen for pain relief. At his two-week follow-up, he reported being essentially pain-free. Three months later, his pain score remained 0 out of 10, and the leg twitching that had once been part of everyday life was gone.“

Afterward, I got back to being able to do everything I can do,” he said. “I was very happy.”

For Dr. Ghouri, helping patients return to the activities they love is one of the most rewarding parts of his work.

“Seeing Eli go back to doing something he’s passionate about, something he really cares about, makes my soul happy,” he said.

Megan has noticed the difference, too.

“Hopefully this school year will be much better,” she said. “Now that he’s post-procedure, he’ll be able to sit still and focus a little more on what he’s doing and a lot less on the pain.”

As for martial arts, Eli is already looking ahead.

“I just want to keep getting better at karate,” he said. “Maybe earn that next black belt.”

Reflecting on their experience, Megan remains grateful for the care her son received.

“I’m very thankful that Dr. Ghouri was the one who saw it and was able to get a treatment plan in place very quickly,” she said.

What was once dismissed as growing pains turned out to be an osteoid osteoma. For Eli and his family, receiving the right diagnosis and an appropriate treatment plan led to more than pain relief. It allowed him to return to school, karate and the everyday moments that matter most.

This case highlights the importance of considering osteoid osteoma in patients with persistent nighttime bone pain that cannot be explained by activity alone. Early recognition and referral may help shorten the path to diagnosis and treatment.

The clinical results presented herein are for informational purposes only, and may not be predictive for all patients. Individual results may vary depending on patient-specific attributes and other factors.