• Li-Qiang Yang, Wei-Yi Gong, Xiao-Ping Wang, Zhi Dou, Yuan-Jie Zeng, and Jia-Xiang Ni.
• Department of Pain Management, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
• Pain Pract. 2017 Jul 1; 17 (6): 792-799.

BackgroundPatients with thoracic neuropathic pain often do not respond to medication and physical therapy. Coblation technology has been demonstrated to have potential for pain management.MethodsFifteen patients underwent computed tomography-guided percutaneous coblation to ablate the thoracic paravertebral nerve for their medication-resistant thoracic neuropathic pain. The pain intensity was assessed by visual analog scale (VAS) 1 day before surgery and 1 week and 1, 3, and 6 months after surgery, and the difference between preoperative and postoperative VAS values was determined to evaluate the pain relief effectiveness. Patients who achieved > 50% pain relief were defined as responders, and the ratio in all patients was calculated. The number of patients who reported mild pain (VAS ≤ 3) was recorded, and the ratio in all responders was calculated. In addition, adverse effects were also recorded to investigate the security of procedure.ResultsTwelve (80%) responders achieved > 50% pain relief. The VAS score of responders significantly decreased from 7.42 ± 1.38 before surgery to 2.17 ± 1.11 (P = 0.000), 1.92 ± 1.16 (P = 0.000), 1.75 ± 0.97 (P = 0.000), and 1.58 ± 1.08 (P = 0.000) at 1 week, 1, 3, and 6 months after surgery, respectively. The number of responders with mild pain was 10 (83.3%), 11 (91.7%), 12 (100%), and 12 (100%) at 1 week, 1, 3, and 6 months after surgery, respectively. All responders and 1 nonresponder reported slight numbness after the surgery.ConclusionPercutaneous thoracic paravertebral nerve coblation guided by computed tomography is a potential method for the treatment of thoracic neuropathic pain.© 2016 World Institute of Pain.

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