Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Ewha Woman's University Seoul Hospital, Ewha Woman's University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Daegu, Republic of Korea.
Ann Palliat Med. 2020 Sep;9(5):3528-3536. doi: 10.21037/apm-20-298. Epub 2020 Sep 7.
Pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) stimulation has been safely and effectively applied for controlling various types of pain. Here, we aimed to systematically review the literature pertaining to the efficacy of PRF stimulation for managing pain associated with spinal disorders. We conducted a PubMed search for papers published until August 20, 2019, that used PRF to treat pain resulting from spinal disorders. The following inclusion criteria were applied when selecting the articles: (I) patients' pain was caused by spinal disorders; (II) PRF stimulation was applied on the spinal structure; and (III) after PRF stimulation, follow-up evaluation was performed to assess the change in pain intensity. Review articles were excluded. The primary literature search yielded 168 relevant papers. After reading their titles and abstracts and evaluating their eligibility based on the full-text articles, we finally included 59 publications in this review. The therapeutic outcomes reported in the selected studies showed that PRF is an effective treatment for cervical and lumbar radicular pain. Similarly, PRF stimulation seems to be effective for treating cervical joint (cervical facet and atlantoaxial joints) pain and lumbar facet joint pain. PRF stimulation has also resulted in positive outcomes in some studies, in which patients were treated for other disorders, including cervicogenic headache, discogenic neck pain, thoracic facet joint pain, discogenic back pain, and coccydynia. Nevertheless, there is insufficient evidence for the efficacy of PRF stimulation in these disorders. In conclusion, our review provides insights into the degree of evidence available on the effectiveness of PRF stimulation for treating pain associated with each of the spinal disorders reviewed. This information will help clinicians make informed decisions on using PRF stimulation to treat various spinal conditions and manage the associated pain.
脉冲射频(PRF)刺激已被安全有效地应用于控制各种类型的疼痛。在这里,我们旨在系统地综述有关 PRF 刺激治疗脊柱疾病相关疼痛的文献。我们在 PubMed 上进行了搜索,以获取截至 2019 年 8 月 20 日发表的使用 PRF 治疗脊柱疾病引起的疼痛的论文。在选择这些文章时,我们采用了以下纳入标准:(I)患者的疼痛是由脊柱疾病引起的;(II)PRF 刺激应用于脊柱结构;(III)在 PRF 刺激后,进行随访评估以评估疼痛强度的变化。排除综述文章。初步文献搜索产生了 168 篇相关论文。在阅读其标题和摘要并根据全文文章评估其资格后,我们最终在本次综述中纳入了 59 篇出版物。所选研究报告的治疗结果表明,PRF 是治疗颈、腰椎根性疼痛的有效方法。同样,PRF 刺激似乎对治疗颈椎关节(颈椎小关节和寰枢关节)疼痛和腰椎小关节疼痛有效。在一些研究中,PRF 刺激也取得了积极的结果,其中患者接受了其他疾病的治疗,包括颈源性头痛、椎间盘源性颈痛、胸小关节痛、椎间盘源性背痛和尾骨痛。然而,PRF 刺激在这些疾病中的疗效证据不足。总之,我们的综述提供了有关 PRF 刺激治疗每种脊柱疾病相关疼痛的有效性的证据程度的见解。这些信息将帮助临床医生在使用 PRF 刺激治疗各种脊柱疾病和管理相关疼痛方面做出明智的决策。