• Ki Deok Park, Haemi Jee, Hee Seung Nam, Soo Kyoung Cho, Hyoung Seop Kim, Yongbum Park, and Oh Kyung Lim.
• Deaprement of Rehabilitation Medicine, Gil Hospital, Gachon University of Medicine and Science, Incheon, Korea.
• Ann Rehabil Med. 2013 Apr 1; 37 (2): 191-201.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the outcomes of medial branch block in facet joint pain for osteoporotic compression fracture and utilize multiple regression, the relationship between their impact on treatment outcome and other factor, such as the radiologic finding, clinical parameters was analyze.MethodsFifty-three patients with axial back pain from osteoporotic compression fracture were enrolled. The clinical outcomes were measured by Verbal Numeric Rating Scale (VNS) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) before treatment, 2 weeks, 3 months, and 12 months after the medial branch block. Radiographic analysis included measurement of overall sagittal alignment, collapsed vertebral height, and vertebral kyphotic angle. After 12 months, patients' satisfaction was classified to five categories: excellent, good, fair, poor or fail. Statistical analysis of both radiographic and clinical parameters along with treatment outcome was performed to determine any significant correlations between the two.ResultsVNS and ODI was improved 2 weeks after the injection and continued to improve until 12 months. Significant improvement with significant pain relief (>40%), functional improvement (>20%), and the patients rated their satisfaction level as "excellent" or "good" at 12 months after the first injection were observed in 78.9%. The radiographic and clinical parameters were not significantly correlated with treatment outcome.ConclusionOur retrospective study demonstrated that the medial branch block provided significant pain relief and functional recovery to the patients with osteoporotic spinal compression fractures complaining of continuous facet joint pain after vertebroplasty or conservative treatment. A placebo-controlled prospective randomized double-blind study should be conducted in the future to evaluate the treatment effects.

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