Open AccessIncidence of Neuropathic Pain after Cooled Radiofrequency Ablation of Sacral Lateral Branch Nerves
Author(s) -
Stolzenberg David,
Gordin Vitaly,
Vorobeychik Yakov
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
pain medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.893
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1526-4637
pISSN - 1526-2375
DOI - 10.1111/pme.12553
Subject(s) - medicine , sacroiliac joint , neuropathic pain , pulsed radiofrequency , surgery , radiofrequency ablation , incidence (geometry) , neuralgia , lumbar , facet joint , retrospective cohort study , medical record , interventional pain management , anesthesia , complication , low back pain , ablation , chronic pain , physical therapy , pain relief , physics , optics , alternative medicine , pathology
Objective To determine the incidence of neuropathic pain after cooled radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of the sacral lateral branches for the treatment of chronic posterior sacroiliac joint complex pain. Design Retrospective chart review of all patients with chronic posterior sacroiliac joint complex pain who underwent cooled RFA of the sacral lateral branches in our practice between J uly 2011 and F ebruary 2014. Setting Single academic pain practice at a tertiary care medical center. Subjects Thirty‐six patients with chronic posterior sacroiliac joint complex pain. Methods All charts were reviewed to determine the procedure date, unilateral or bilateral, number of levels treated, and number of individual lesions. Side effects were assessed for their presence or absence, character, intensity, duration, and whether treatment was initiated or symptoms resolved spontaneously. Results Forty‐eight separate procedures were performed, with a total of 193 levels and 430 lesions. Three patients had transient postprocedure neuropathic pain yielding a 0.7% (95% confidence interval [ CI ] ± 0.4%) rate of this complication per lesion. This proportion increases to 6.2% (95% CI ± 3.5%) per procedure and to 9.4% (95% CI ± 5.2%) per patient. Conclusion The incidence of postprocedural neuropathic pain after cooled RFA for posterior sacroiliac joint complex denervation is low and in a similar range to that in the lumbar spine. We consider this procedure safe to be utilized by pain medicine practitioners.