• de Andrés AresJavierJDepartment of Anesthesiology-Pain Unit, Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid, Spain., Sam Eldabe, Nicky Helsen, Ganesan Baranidharan, Jean-Luc Barat, Arun Bhaskar, Fabrizio Cassini, Sebastian Gillner, Jan Willem Kallewaard, Stephan Klessinger, Philippe Mavrocordatos, Felice Occhigrossi, Jan Van Zundert, Frank Huygen, and Herman Stoevelaar.
• Department of Anesthesiology-Pain Unit, Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid, Spain.
• Pain Pract. 2024 Sep 1; 24 (7): 904918904-918.

BackgroundDespite the routine use of radiofrequency (RF) for the treatment of chronic pain in the lumbosacral and cervical region, there remains uncertainty on the most appropriate patient selection criteria. This study aimed to develop appropriateness criteria for RF in relation to relevant patient characteristics, considering RF ablation (RFA) for the treatment of chronic axial pain and pulsed RF (PRF) for the treatment of chronic radicular pain.MethodsThe RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method (RUAM) was used to explore the opinions of a multidisciplinary European panel on the appropriateness of RFA and PRF for a variety of clinical scenarios. Depending on the type of pain (axial or radicular), the expert panel rated the appropriateness of RFA and PRF for a total of 219 clinical scenarios.ResultsFor axial pain in the lumbosacral or cervical region, appropriateness of RFA was determined by the dominant pain trigger and location of tenderness on palpation with higher appropriateness scores if these variables were suggestive of the diagnosis of facet or sacroiliac joint pain. Although the opinions on the appropriateness of PRF for lumbosacral and cervical radicular pain were fairly dispersed, there was agreement that PRF is an appropriate option for well-selected patients with radicular pain due to herniated disc or foraminal stenosis, particularly in the absence of motor deficits. The panel outcomes were embedded in an educational e-health tool that also covers the psychosocial aspects of chronic pain, providing integrated recommendations on the appropriate use of (P)RF interventions for the treatment of chronic axial and radicular pain in the lumbosacral and cervical region.ConclusionsA multidisciplinary European expert panel established patient-specific recommendations that may support the (pre)selection of patients with chronic axial and radicular pain in the lumbosacral and cervical region for either RFA or PRF (accessible via https://rftool.org). Future studies should validate these recommendations by determining their predictive value for the outcomes of (P)RF interventions.© 2024 The Authors. Pain Practice published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of World Institute of Pain.

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