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. 2021 Apr 17;11(2):e111420.
doi: 10.5812/aapm.111420. eCollection 2021 Apr.

The Effect of Pulsed Radiofrequency on Radicular Pain in Lumbal Herniated Nucleus Pulposus: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Anita Marliana  1   2 , Ismail Setyopranoto  1   2 , Indarwati Setyaningsih  1   2 , Sholahuddin Rhatomy  3   2
Affiliations

The Effect of Pulsed Radiofrequency on Radicular Pain in Lumbal Herniated Nucleus Pulposus: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Anita Marliana et al. Anesth Pain Med. .

Abstract

Context: Radiofrequency therapy is a medical procedure mainly used to reduce pain with a low complication rate (less than 1%), ease of application, and low cost. This review's objective was to (1) evaluate the pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) effectiveness in treating radicular pain and (2) assess the PRF procedure's safety in managing radicular pain in lumbar herniated nucleus pulposus (HNP).

Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis. A tertiary care center and an academic medical center. Six full articles with the following features were selected for this review: (1) Articles published in English; (2) studies on the PRF effect on radicular pain in lumbar HNP; and (3) randomized control trials.

Results: The studies showed that the PRF group had a reduction in pain scores at each evaluation. In four of the studies, the PRF group showed a more significant reduction in pain scores than the control, and in two of the studies, the reduction in pain scores was not significant in the PRF group compared to the control. An adverse effect was reported in one patient experiencing increased radicular pain after PRF. Lack of data required for statistical analysis, and lack use of a uniform duration for the PRF procedure by all the studies.

Conclusions: PRF can be used as a promising clinical recommendation for pain management with minimally invasive radicular pain techniques due to lumbar HNP.

Keywords: Hernia Nucleus Pulposus; Lumbar; Pulsed Radiofrequency; Radicular Pain.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interests: We declare that we have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. The flowchart of the study selection process
Figure 2.
Figure 2.. Summary of risk of bias: an overview of each risk of bias item for each included study
Figure 3.
Figure 3.. Summary of risk of bias: an overview of the assessment of each risk of bias item for each included study
Figure 4.
Figure 4.. The funnel plot of the PRF effect on radicular pain in lumbar HNP
Figure 5.
Figure 5.. The forest plot of differences in pain score reduction between the PRF group and the control group: (A) before the treatment, as well as (B) four, (C) eight, and (D) twelve weeks after the treatment
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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