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Safety and Efficacy of Radiofrequency Ablation of the Medial Branch Nerves with Preexisting Spinal Hardware. A Case Series and Review of Literature

  • Neuropathic Pain (A. Abd-Elsayed, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Pain and Headache Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

To explore the efficacy of radio frequency ablation in treating pain in patients with hardware at site of the procedure.

Recent Findings

There is very limited data in literature about this topic. One study performed in 2016 indicated no complications when performing RFA close to hardware in patients with chronic pain conditions.

Summary

Radiofrequency ablation can be safely and effectively performed close to hardware. While heating of the hardware can happen which can theoretically lead to tissue injury or decreased heat going to target nerve, this does not seem to be of clinical significance. More studies are needed to confirm this finding.

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References

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anesthesiology, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, 600 Highland Avenue, B6/319 CSC, Madison, WI, 53792-3272, USA

    Alaa Abd-Elsayed & Jeff VanderWood

  2. University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA

    Kenneth Fiala

  3. Medical School, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA

    Sean Nguyen

Authors
  1. Alaa Abd-Elsayed
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  2. Kenneth Fiala
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  3. Sean Nguyen
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  4. Jeff VanderWood
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alaa Abd-Elsayed.

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Conflict of Interest

Alaa A. Abd-Elsayed, Kenneth Fiala, Sean Nguyen, and Jeff VanderWood declare no conflict of interest. Dr. Abd-Elsayed is a consultant for Medtronic, Halyard, StimWave, SpineLoop and Sollis. Dr. Kaye is on the Speakers Bureau for Depomed, Inc. and Merck.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Neuropathic Pain

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Abd-Elsayed, A., Fiala, K., Nguyen, S. et al. Safety and Efficacy of Radiofrequency Ablation of the Medial Branch Nerves with Preexisting Spinal Hardware. A Case Series and Review of Literature. Curr Pain Headache Rep 23, 11 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-019-0752-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-019-0752-6

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