New “weapon” for pain treatment – pain radiofrequency therapy instrument.
In some clinical patients with chronic and intractable pain, when conventional methods such as medication and nerve block are ineffective or have too many side effects and cannot be adhered to, they often choose some minimally invasive interventional treatment methods, among which radiofrequency therapy is a minimally invasive technology with fast development, good effect and little damage in recent years.
Pain radiofrequency technology is considered to be the new technology and means leading the field of pain treatment, including continuous radiofrequency and pulsed radiofrequency. The working principle of continuous radiofrequency is to generate heat through high-frequency current, adjust the size of radiofrequency output power, which can make the local reach the required temperature, form a certain range of protein coagulation foci in the tissue, affect the conduction of nociceptive signals, and eliminate or reduce pain while maintaining proprioceptive, tactile and motor functions after treatment. This is the traditional radiofrequency thermal coagulation destruction, referred to as “radiofrequency”. Because the high temperature effect is produced by the current continuous type, so also called continuous radio frequency. Another kind of radiofrequency technology is pulsed radiofrequency, its current pulsed generation, in the nerve tissue near the formation of high voltage, but the temperature is low (electrode tip temperature does not exceed 42 ℃), without the risk of high temperature nerve destruction. For patients with neuropathic pain that is poorly treated with oral medication or other invasive treatments, PRF therapy can often provide relief.
The advantages of radiofrequency therapy include.
(1) Precise nerve localization under imaging and neurophysiological monitoring, with precise results.
②The extent and degree of destruction can be precisely selected and controlled, with low risk and low complication rate.
③Small trauma, can be operated by percutaneous puncture, and can even be used for outpatients. Recovery after treatment is faster than general surgical treatment, and does not increase the difficulty of operation when re-radiofrequency is needed.
④The treatment operation can be performed under intravenous anesthesia and sedation, with little pain.
⑤ Radiofrequency treatment has a long time for pain relief, and radiofrequency treatment can be repeated when pain recurs.
Radiofrequency analgesic treatment has become a powerful tool for the treatment of chronic pain, and the indications are mainly.
① destruction of each peripheral branch of the trigeminal nerve or destruction of the semilunar ganglion, or feasible pulse-regulated radiofrequency for the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia and intractable head and facial pain.
② destruction of small joint nerves of cervical, thoracic and lumbar vertebrae, destruction of posterior branch of spinal nerve or pulse-regulated radiofrequency, treatment of intractable occipital, cervical, shoulder, back, lumbar and leg pain.
③Odd ganglion, lumbar, thoracic, cervical sympathetic ganglion destruction, treatment of pulsating vascular pain, cyanotic ischemic pain, burning sympathetic pain in head, arm, hand, thoracic and abdominal wall, perineum or lower extremity.
④Cervical, thoracic, lumbar and sacral spinal nerve dorsal root ganglion destruction or pulsed radiofrequency modulation for treatment of intractable pain or cancerous pain in the head, occipital, cervical, hand, thoracic and lower extremities.
⑤ Radiofrequency destruction of peripheral nerves such as temporal nerve, occipital nerve, intercostal nerve, ulnar nerve, radial nerve, finger nerve, femoral nerve, closed foraminal nerve, tibiofibular nerve and sciatic nerve to treat pain in the innervated areas.
(6) Radiofrequency destruction of pterygopalatine ganglion for migraine, cluster headache and allergic rhinitis.
(7) Intervertebral disc radiofrequency treatment for discogenic low back pain, neck and shoulder pain, cervical headache, cervical dizziness and sympathetic disorder symptoms, arm pain and low back pain, and some post-surgical failure syndrome of the back.
⑧Tumor radiofrequency thermocoagulation for tumor infiltrative or compression pain.
⑨ Myofascial contracture radiofrequency thermocoagulation release for myofascial pain syndrome or nerve entrapment pain, including occipital, cervical, arm, shoulder, back, thoracic, abdominal, lumbar, sacral, leg and foot pain.
⑩Other treatments such as pituitary destruction, destruction of the inner nucleus pulposus, destruction of the spinal conduction tract, etc. for intractable malignant pain.