Radiofrequency Treatment in Chronic Pain

Authors and Disclosures

Marc Soloman, MD
Department of Pain Management, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Ave (C25), Cleveland, OH 44195, USA Tel.: +1 216 444 1846 solimam@ccf.org

Mark N Mekhail
Department of Pain Management, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Ave (C25), Cleveland, OH 44195, USA Tel.: +1 440 339 3943 mnm88@gmail.com

Nagy Mekhail, MD, PhD^†
Department of Pain Management, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Ave (C25), Cleveland, OH 44195, USA Tel.: +1 216 444 7478 Fax: +1 216 444 0797 mekhain@ccf.org

^†Author for correspondence
Department of Pain Management, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Ave (C25), Cleveland, OH 44195, USA Tel.: +1 216 444 7478 Fax: +1 216 444 0797 mekhain@ccf.org

Sidebar

Key Issues

• Radiofrequency ablation is a common therapeutic modality to treat various types of chronic pain.

• The use of facet median nerve branch radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for cervical, thoracic and lumbar vertebrae is common but more randomized, double-blinded control studies are needed in this area.

• The sacroiliac joint is a common source of chronic lower back pain and a novel RFA-based approach to sacroiliac joint denervation may provide intermediate-term pain relief and functional benefit in selected patients.

• Intradiscal procedures are being introduced to treat discogenic pain.

• Sympathetic ganglion RFA is used to treat headaches, complex regional pain syndrome and abdominal pain.

• Dorsal root ganglion RFA is used to treat radiculopathy.

• There are multiple applications of pulsed RFA in the treatment of chronic pain.