Lumbar facet joint injection in treating low back pain: Radiofrequency denervation versus SHAM procedure. Systematic review.

Al-Najjim, Munnan; Shah, Rohi; Rahuma, Mahmoud; Gabbar, Omar Abdul · J Orthop · 2018

systematic_review · Level I

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Abstract

The lumbar facet joints have been implicated as one of the causes of low-back pain syndromes. About 15-40% of patients who presented with chronic low-back pain was attributed to lumbar facet joint pain. The purpose of this study was to analyse whether radiofrequency denervation is better than SHAM procedure in treating chronic low-back pain caused by lumbar zygapophysial joints pathology. From the four identified randomised control trials, there is conflicting evidence at an intermediate 3-6-month stage, however; one study demonstrates statistical significance of radiofrequency denervation at 3 months. Longer-term follow-up is needed to prove the efficacy of radiofrequency denervation technique.

Anatomy