Percutaneous pulsed radiofrequency in the treatment of cervical and lumbar radicular pain

Changes in pain behavior and glial activation in the spinal dorsal horn after pulsed radiofrequency current administration to the dorsal root ganglion in a rat model of lumbar disc herniation

“…Recently, PRF has been advocated for the treatment of acute and chronic neuropathic pain of spinal nerve root origin. 4,46 However, the mechanisms underlying the efficacy of PRF treatment for pain control remain unclear.…”

“…Although the mechanism is poorly understood, the clinically demonstrated effectiveness of PRF makes it an alternative modality for the delivery of radiofrequency current. 1,4,9,25,45,46 Neurobiology studies have demonstrated early and late temperature-independent cellular activity in the rat dorsal horn after exposure of the cervical DRG to PRF. In particular, after PRF administration, the numbers of cfos immunoreactive neurons increase substantially in the superficial laminae of the dorsal horn.…”

Serum Beta-endorphin Changes in Lumbar Facet Syndrome Treated with Radiofrequency Lumbar Facet Denervation – A Randomized Controlled Study

“…Possible complications from RF denervation include bleeding, infection, nerve damage, broken electrodes, and post-denervation neuritis. A neuro-destructive method is, in principle, inappropriate for treating neuropathic pain [21,22]. Hence, a multidiscipline team including patient, doctor and care manager nurse shoud be involved in the shared decision making process of RF [23][24][25].…”

Application of Radiofrequency in Low Back Pain Treatment

“…Radiofrequency (RF) is a minimally invasive, target-selective technique that has been in clinical use for more than decades and has been demonstrated to be successful for treating cardiac arrhythmias (Baszko et al, 2002), dysplasia (Shahee et al, 2009) and reducing pain in several chronic pain conditions including trigeminal neuralgia, chronic LBP, postherpetic neuralgia, complex regional pain syndrome, ischemic pain, cervicobrachialgia, postthoracotomy pain, occipital neuralgia, and cervical or lumbar radicular pain (Chao et al, 2008;Navani et al, 2006;Racz & Ruiz-Lopez 2006;Zhang et al, 2011). Focusing on pain management, RF can not only reach directly to the source of pain but also modulate the pain signal transmission.…”