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Comparison of the Efficacy of Different Radiofrequency Techniques for the Treatment of Lumbar Facet Joint Pain: Combined with Anatomy

  • Neuropathic Pain (A Abd-Elsayed, Section Editor)
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

Lumbar facet pain is generally considered to be one of the major causes of chronic low back pain. Each lumbar facet joint is innervated by the medial branch of the posterior spinal nerve from its own level and above. Radiofrequency (RF) of the medial branch of the posterior branch of the spinal nerve is an effective method for the treatment of lumbar facet pain. RF technology is diverse, including traditional radiofrequency (TRF), pulsed radiofrequency (PRF), cooled radiofrequency (CRF), low-temperature plasma radiofrequency ablation (CA), and other treatment methods. The purpose of this paper is to compare the efficacy of different radiofrequency techniques and to analyze the reasons for this in the context of anatomy.

Recent Findings

There have been studies confirming the differences in efficacy of different RF techniques. However, most of the studies only compared two RF techniques, not four techniques, TRF, CRF, PRF, and CA, and did not analyze the reasons for the differences in efficacy.

Summary

This article reviews the differences in the efficacy of the above four RF techniques, clarifies that the differences are mainly due to the inability to precisely localize the medial branch of the posterior branch of the spinal nerve, analyzes the reasons for the inability to precisely localize the posterior branch of the spinal nerve in conjunction with anatomy, and proposes that the development of RF technology for lumbar facet pain requires more in-depth anatomical, imaging, and clinical studies.

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Data Availability

No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

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Funding

This study was supported by the Jilin Provincial Subject Fund (No. YDZJ202201ZYTS208).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical College of Yanbian University, No. 977 Gong Yuan Road, Yanji, Jilin Province, China

    Ling Na Qi, Ye Sun, Yu Tong Shi, Jing Han Yang & Yi Ran Yang

  2. Department of Anatomy, Medical College of Yanbian University, Yanji, Jilin Province, China

    Xiang Zheng Qin

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  1. Ling Na Qi
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Contributions

Y.T.S. prepared the images,  L.N.Q.,  J.H.Y. and Y.R.Y. contributed to the concept and design of the study. The original manuscript was written by L.N.Q., and X.Z.Q. and Y.S. commented on previous versions of the original manuscript. All authors read and approved the final draft.

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Correspondence to Xiang Zheng Qin.

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Qi, L.N., Sun, Y., Shi, Y.T. et al. Comparison of the Efficacy of Different Radiofrequency Techniques for the Treatment of Lumbar Facet Joint Pain: Combined with Anatomy. Curr Pain Headache Rep (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-024-01241-7

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