Pulsed Radiofrequency Treatment in Lumbar Facet-Related Pain

Facet joint-related pain is one of the leading causes of low back pain. Facet joint-related disorders can have a negative impact on quality of life and daily living activities, in addition to the pain.Conservative treatment methods such as analgesic medications, physical therapy, and manual therapy are used for facet joint-related low back pain, and interventional pain management practices are used in patients who do not respond adequately to these treatments. Pulse radiofrequency application, which is a recent popular treatment in interventional pain management, is also frequently applied in the treatment of facet-joint related pain. Pulsed radiofrequency intervention can be applied directly intra-articularly or can be applied to the median branch, which is important structure in pain transmission. Although both methods are frequently used in pain management, there is a lack of information in the literature about which is more effective. This study aimed to compare the treatment results of intraarticular pulse radiofrequency application and median branch pulse radiofrequency application in facet joint-related low back pain.