Chronic pain, defined as pain that persists for longer than 3 months or recurs, is a significant health and economic burden in the USA associated with substantial healthcare costs and lost productivity. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a minimally invasive procedure utilizing radiofrequency probes to provide precise thermal energy to targeted nociceptive pathways, thereby providing pain relief. This study examines whether patients undergoing RFA for chronic low back pain due to lumbar facet arthropathy experience decreased pain scores, longer pain relief, and greater pain reduction. This retrospective study analyzed data from UW-Health Electronic Medical Records (EMR) on lumbar RFA procedures performed between 2015 and April 2024. Collected patient data included diagnosis, pre-and postoperative pain scores, duration of relief, age, sex, and BMI. Pain scores were analyzed using a two-tailed paired t test; p ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. A total of 195 lumbar RFA procedures were reviewed; 26 were excluded due to absent pre- or post-op pain scores, and four were excluded due to weekly lidocaine infusions between their procedure and reporting of their post-op score. A total of 148 patients were included, comprising of 95 women and 53 men, with an average age of 57.39 ± 12.24 years and a BMI of 32.24 ± 8.11. The average pre- and post-procedure VAS pain scores were 6.42 (6.42 ± 1.80, n = 165) and 3.61 (3.61 ± 2.37, n = 165), respectively. The difference between pre- and post-RFA was statistically significant (p < 0.0001). Improvement of pain symptoms was reported in 87.88% (n = 145) of patients, 6.67% (n = 11) of patients reported complete pain remission, 6.67% (n = 11) of patients reported no change, and 7.88% (n = 13) of patients reported worsening symptoms. This study supports the effectiveness of thermal RFA as a minimally invasive option for managing chronic lower back pain caused by lumbar facet arthropathy unresponsive to conventional treatments.
Abd-Elsayed et al. (Thu,) studied this question.