Fabio Tortora1, Alberto Negro2,3, Camilla Russo4, Sossio Cirillo5, Ferdinando Caranci6. 1. Dipartimento di Medicina di Precisione, Università degli Studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Servizio di Neuroradiologia, PO CTO, Viale Colli Aminei, 21, 80131, Naples, Italy. 2. Università degli Studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Servizio di Neuroradiologia, PO CTO, Viale Colli Aminei, 21, 80131, Naples, Italy. Alberto.Negro@hotmail.it. 3. M.D. UOC Neuroradiologia PO Ospedale del Mare, ASL NA1, Via Enrico Russo, 80147, Naples, Italy. Alberto.Negro@hotmail.it. 4. Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche Avanzate, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Via Sergio Pansini, 5, 80131, Naples, Italy. 5. Dipartimento di Internistica Clinica e Sperimentale Flaviano Magrassi, Università degli Studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Servizio di Neuroradiologia, PO CTO, Viale Colli Aminei, 21, 80131, Naples, Italy. 6. Dipartimento di Medicina e Scienze per la Salute, Università degli Studi del Molise, Via G. Paolo II contrada "Tappino", 86100, Campobasso, Italy.
Abstract
PURPOSE: Evaluation of clinical and radiological effects of the therapeutic outcome of CT-guided pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) treatment adjacent to the lumbar dorsal root ganglion (DRG) for patients with chronic intractable lumbosacral radicular pain in a single-center prospective longitudinal study in order to evaluate predictive factors of safety and therapeutic success. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty patients, from 2016 to 2018, were enrolled (age: 42-80 aa, 66.7% men and 33.3% females) with low back pain, lumbosciatalgia and/or lumbocruralgia, resistant to previous medical and physical treatments for a period not < 3 months, failure of surgical and chemiodiscolysis with ozone oxygen therapy. Each patient was subjected to a clinical evaluation (antalgic walking, sensitive deficit, interviews with specific questionnaires: ODI, RDQ,VAS) and to a radiological evaluation with MRI examination, before and 30 days after the CT-guided PRF treatment. Measurements of the thickness of the involved and not involved DRG were taken using common postprocessing software of MRI examinations in order to have measurement parameters for comparison. We analyzed the clinical course using the paired samples T test in order to evaluate modification for each clinical and radiological parameter (statistical significance p < 0.05). RESULTS: Significant improvements of the clinical outcomes with a good resolution of the pain symptoms (VAS evaluation: The score fell from 68.47 to 39.17 with a difference of 29.3 and a reduction of the 42.79% in the perceived pain, p = 0.00000152). The thickness of DRG falls from an average media of 0.586-0.448 cm (p = 0.000085), with a difference of 0.138 cm and a percentage reduction of 22.30%. CONCLUSIONS: PRF treatment of the DRG may be considered for patients with chronic severe lumbosacral radicular pain refractory to conventional medical management when other noninvasive or surgical procedures fail. It is minimally invasive, inexpensive and simple to perform with no complications.
PURPOSE: Evaluation of clinical and radiological effects of the therapeutic outcome of CT-guided pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) treatment adjacent to the lumbar dorsal root ganglion (DRG) for patients with chronic intractable lumbosacral radicular pain in a single-center prospective longitudinal study in order to evaluate predictive factors of safety and therapeutic success. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty patients, from 2016 to 2018, were enrolled (age: 42-80 aa, 66.7% men and 33.3% females) with low back pain, lumbosciatalgia and/or lumbocruralgia, resistant to previous medical and physical treatments for a period not < 3 months, failure of surgical and chemiodiscolysis with ozone oxygen therapy. Each patient was subjected to a clinical evaluation (antalgic walking, sensitive deficit, interviews with specific questionnaires: ODI, RDQ,VAS) and to a radiological evaluation with MRI examination, before and 30 days after the CT-guided PRF treatment. Measurements of the thickness of the involved and not involved DRG were taken using common postprocessing software of MRI examinations in order to have measurement parameters for comparison. We analyzed the clinical course using the paired samples T test in order to evaluate modification for each clinical and radiological parameter (statistical significance p < 0.05). RESULTS: Significant improvements of the clinical outcomes with a good resolution of the pain symptoms (VAS evaluation: The score fell from 68.47 to 39.17 with a difference of 29.3 and a reduction of the 42.79% in the perceived pain, p = 0.00000152). The thickness of DRG falls from an average media of 0.586-0.448 cm (p = 0.000085), with a difference of 0.138 cm and a percentage reduction of 22.30%. CONCLUSIONS: PRF treatment of the DRG may be considered for patients with chronic severe lumbosacral radicular pain refractory to conventional medical management when other noninvasive or surgical procedures fail. It is minimally invasive, inexpensive and simple to perform with no complications.
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