Journal of Pain Research (Aug 2022)
Cooled Radiofrequency Ablation Provides Prolonged Pain Relief Compared to Traditional Radiofrequency Ablation: A Real-World, Large Retrospective Clinical Comparison from a Single Practice
Abstract
Leonardo Kapural,1 Amela Minerali,1 Matthew Sanders,2 Matejic Matea,1 Simran Dua1 1Carolinas Pain Institute, Winston Salem, NC, USA; 2Pain Management Fellowship Program, Department of Anesthesiology, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, NC, USACorrespondence: Leonardo Kapural, Carolinas Pain Institute, Tel +1 336 714-8381, Fax +1 336 765-8492, Email [email protected]: Genicular radiofrequency ablation is an established therapy for chronic knee pain. An analysis comparing different probe sizes and technologies has not yet been undertaken for this indication. This large retrospective, comparison study from a single-center comprehensive pain management practice aims to do that.Methods: Outcomes of 170 patients who underwent traditional radiofrequency ablation (tRFA) for chronic knee pain were compared to 170 consecutive patients who received cooled radiofrequency ablation (CRFA) with similar (p=0.5) pre-procedural pain scores.Results: The VAS pain score at the first post-procedure visit at 4– 6 weeks decreased to 5.07± 2.8 cm for tRFA and to 4.26 ± 3.2 cm for CRFA (p 50% of pain relief in tRFA at 12 months, as opposed to 78 (46%) at 12 months for CRFA. We compared the initial outcomes and long-term pain relief. Long-term outcomes were better for the bigger lesion size treatment group patients.Conclusion: We conclude that the duration and intensity of pain relief were of a greater magnitude after the larger diameter probe cooled RFA.Keywords: radiofrequency ablation, chronic knee pain, knee osteoarthritis, pain management
