• Ji Woon Lim, Yun-Woo Cho, Dong Gyu Lee, and Min Cheol Chang.
• Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Korea.
• Pain Physician. 2017 Sep 1; 20 (6): E961-E967.

BackgroundDisorders of the facet joints are some of the most common sources of chronic spinal pain. Facet joint pain is responsible for approximately 50% of patients with chronic neck pain. Pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) stimulation, after placing needle electrodes into the joint space, has been recently reported for the management of joint pain.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of intraarticular (IA) PRF for the management of cervical facet joint (CFJ) pain. In addition, we compared the effect of IA PRF to IA corticosteroid injection.Study DesignProspective observational study.SettingUniversity hospital.MethodsForty patients with CFJ pain were included in the study and randomly assigned to one of 2 groups: the IA PRF group and the IA corticosteroid (ICI) group. There were 20 patients in each group. Pain intensity was evaluated using a numeric rating scale (NRS) at pre-treatment, and one, 3, and 6 months after treatment.ResultsWhen compared to the pretreatment NRS scores, patients in both groups showed a significant decrease in NRS scores at one, 3, and 6 months after treatment (P = 0.000). Changes in the NRS scores over time were not significantly different between the groups (P = 0.227). Six months after treatment, 10 patients (50.0%) in the PRF group and 12 patients (60.0%) in the ICI group reported successful pain relief (pain relief of = 50%).LimitationsA small number of participants.ConclusionIA PRF stimulation is as effective as IA corticosteroid injection in attenuating CFJ pain. The use of PRF could decrease CFJ pain, while avoiding the adverse effects of steroids.Key words: Cervical facet joint pain, pulsed radiofrequency, intraarticular stimulation, chronic pain, corticosteroid injection, numeric rating scale.

30 keywords...

hide…