Steven P Cohen, Leonardo Kapural, Lynn Kohan, Sean Li, Robert W Hurley, Richard Vallejo, Yashar Eshraghi, Pradeep Dinakar, Shravani Durbhakula, Douglas P Beall, Mehul J Desai, David Reece, Sandy Christiansen, Min Ho Chang, Adam J Carinci, Michael DePalma
INTRODUCTION: Low back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide, with sacroiliac joint pain comprising up to 30% of cases of axial lower back pain. Conservative therapies provide only modest relief. Although placebo-controlled trials show efficacy for sacral lateral branch cooled radiofrequency ablation, there are no comparative effectiveness studies. METHODS: In this randomized, multicenter comparative effectiveness study, 210 patients with clinically suspected sacroiliac joint pain who obtained short-term benefit from diagnostic sacroiliac joint injections and prognostic lateral branch blocks were randomly assigned to receive cooled radiofrequency ablation of the L5 dorsal ramus and S1-S3 lateral branches or standard medical management consisting of pharmacotherapy, injections and integrative therapies...
July 5, 2023: Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine