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Pain and Spine Medicine

Session: Acute pain after lumbar radiofrequency ablation and its effect on overall pain relief at follow-up

Acute Pain after Lumbar Radiofrequency Ablation and its Effect on Overall Pain Relief at Follow-up

Friday, October 24, 2025
12:00 PM - 1:30 PM MT
Location: Original Research Theater

    Poster Presenter(s)

  • Paras Patel, MD

    Resident Physician
    Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals PM&R Program
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

    • Co-Author(s)

  • Cole McDonald, MD

    Co-Author
    Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals PM&R Program
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

  • Vladimir Suric, MD

    Assistant Professor
    Medical College of Wisconsin PM&R Program
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Disclosure(s):
Paras Patel, MD: No financial relationships to disclose
Cole McDonald, MD: No financial relationships to disclose
Vladimir Suric, MD: No financial relationships to disclose
Background and/or Objectives: To determine the incidence of acute pain after lumbar radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and its effect on overall pain relief at initial follow-up.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting : Academic outpatient pain clinic.

Participants : 229 patients who underwent lumbar RFA. Median age 68 with 59% female.

Interventions: Chart review of patients who underwent lumbar RFA with categorical variables reported as percentages and chi-square test used to test the null hypothesis that patients who experience acute pain after RFA will have no change in pain relief on initial follow-up.

Main Outcome Measures: Incidence of acute pain within two weeks of RFA and 50% pain relief at initial follow-up (median 63 days).

Results: Eighteen percent of patients developed acute pain after RFA and sixty percent of all patients had 50% pain relief at initial follow-up. The presence of acute pain had no effect on pain improvement at follow-up. Receiving steroid during RFA had no effect on the development of acute pain. Patient age, sex, or whether they had previous RFA did not predict the development of acute pain.

Conclusions: While a fair number of patients who undergo lumbar RFA will develop acute pain after the procedure, these patients have similar overall pain relief as those who do not experience acute pain. Future studies with a larger data set that further characterize type of acute pain would be beneficial.