• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• 제24권1호
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• pp.57-60
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• 2011

Pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) treatment of nervous tissue has been proposed as a less neurodestructive technique alternative to continuous RF heat lesioning. Recently, clinical reports using PRF have shown favorable effects in the treatment of a variety of focal pain areas, even in non-nervous tissues; however, the mechanism of effect underlying this treatment to non-nervous tissue remains unclear. We report the case of a 67-year-old male who presented with pain reliving point in the posterior neck. The patient had pain in the posterior neck for 3 years. The pain subsided with pressure applied to a point in the posterior neck. There were no specific abnormal findings on laboratory testing and radiologic examinations. After PRF treatment to the pain-relieving point, he had pain relief which lasted more than 5 months.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• 제22권2호
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• pp.167-170
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• 2009

Pharmacological management is the first choice for treatment of the trigeminal neuralgia patients; however, if this mode of treatment fails a minimally invasive procedure should be performed. One of the most commonly used procedures is conventional radiofrequency lesioning of the Gasserian ganglion. Despite its popularity and success rate, this technique has disadvantages such as diminished corneal reflex, masseter weakness, numbness and anesthesia dolorosa. As a result, many studies have been conducted in an attempt to find a better method of treating trigeminal neuralgia. We report here a case of a trigeminal neuralgia patient that was treated with pulsed radiofrequency lesioning of the supraorbital and supratrochlear nerve due to pain in the frontal head that was refractory to the pharmacological treatments. Following the procedure, the Visual Analogue Scale score for pain decreased to 1-2/10 and the pain relief persisted for 7 months. These results indicate that pulsed radiofrequency treatment of the peripheral nerve may be useful for trigeminal neuralgia patients that do not respond to pharmacological treatments.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• 제21권3호
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• pp.202-205
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• 2008

Background: Lumbar radicular pain is a frequent and often debilitating event. Although many treatment methods have been described in several studies, the available evidences regarding efficacy is not sufficient enough to draw definitive conclusions on an optimal therapy regime. Pulsed radiofrequency (RF) treatment was found to exert a beneficial effect on intractable radicular pain in individuals. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of pulsed RF of the dorsal root ganglion for chronic lumbar radicular pain. Methods: Twenty five patients with chronic lumbar radicular pain that was refractory to selective nerve root blockage met the inclusion criteria of our study and received pulsed RF treatment. The average numeric rating scale (NRS) for leg pain during usual activities and the Oswestry disability index (ODI) were measured at 1 and 3 months after the procedure. Results: Of the 25 patients accepted for pulsed RF treatment, one dropped out due to a vertebral compression fracture during this study. ODI and NRS showed a positive trend in favor of the pulsed RF treatment. No significant complications were observed during the study period. Conclusions: It appears that pulsed RF treatment of the lumbar spinal dorsal root ganglion may be an effective treatment method for patients suffering from lumbar radicular pain, and who were not responsive to selective nerve root blockage.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• 제21권2호
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• pp.150-154
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• 2008

Pulsed or conventional radiofrequency (RF) denervation of the third occipital nerve (TON) is considered to be a safe and effective alternative for the treatment of pain originating from the cervical 2-3 facet joint, including cervicogenic headache. However, proper positioning of the RF probe in the TON can be difficult and time consuming due to the possible involvement of various lesions along the target nerve. We found that bipolar RF is easier to perform and more convenient than unipolar RF when administering a lumbar medial branch block. Here, we report the successful treatment of a patient with a cervicogenic headache by pulsed RF (PRF) denervation of the TON, using a bipolar probe. We believe that bipolar PRF denervation of the TON is an effective alternative to unipolar RF or PRF for the treatment of pain originating from the cervical 2-3 facet joint.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• 제27권1호
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• pp.81-85
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• 2014

Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is one of the most difficult pain syndromes to treat. Invasive treatments may be considered when patients fail to obtain adequate pain relief from noninvasive treatment approaches. Here, we present three cases of PHN in the mandibular branch treated with ultrasound-assisted mental nerve block and pulsed radiofrequency treatment. None of the patients had adequate pain relief from the medical therapy, so we performed the mental nerve block on the affected side under ultrasound assistance. Two patients showed satisfactory pain relief continuously over 12 months without any further interventions, whereas one patient only had short-term pain relief. For the patient had short-term pain relief we performed pulsed radiofrequency treatment (PRFT) on the left mental nerve under ultrasound assistance. After PRFT, the patient had adequate pain relief for 6 months and there was no need for further management.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• 제25권1호
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• pp.60-64
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• 2012

The patient was a 45-year-female who presented with pain at right shoulder and right upper arm. The patient suffered from right shoulder and arm pain for 3 years and had pain management which was performed using medication and conservative management after she had been diagnosed with calcific tendinitis. However, substantial pain relief was not consistently achieved, and recurrence of pain was reported. Therefore, we performed right axillary nerve and suprascapular nerve block through pulsed radiofrequency. Two months after the procedure, the shoulder pain gradually subsided with the size reduction of the calcified nodule and she needed no more pain management.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• 제13권2호
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• pp.149-155
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• 2000

Background: Pulsed radiofrequency (RF) lesioning is a painless procedure and causes no neurodestruction and neuritis-like reaction are common following conventional RF lesioning. There is little data about the effect of pulsed RF especially with regard to its suitability for the treatment of acute pain. The possibility of a placebo effect cannot be ruled out because a double-blind study was not performed in previous studies. There is also no neuropathologic study about pulsed RF. Methods: The rats were anesthetized with sodium pentobarbital (40 mg/kg, i.p.; supplemented as necessary). The common sciatic nerve was exposed by blunt dissection through biceps femoris. Pulsed RF was administered to the common sciatic nerve using a 30 ms/s pulse with for 120 seconds. The temperature reached was no more than $42^{\circ}C$. Analgesia was determined using hot-plate assay shortly and, 3 days and 1 week before, and 2 weeks after operation. Lesions were examined with LM (light microscope) and EM (electron microscope) 2 weeks later. Results: There were no differences in response latencies between the control and experimental group. There were many vacuoles with hyaline bodies in the Schwann cell cytoplasm rather than axon in LM and larger electron dense bodies. No changes were found in the axon or unmyelinated fibers. Only small changes were found in the sheaths of myelinated fibers and Schwann cells. Conclusions: We therefore do think that any analgesic effect of pulsed RF is not a result of block of neural conduction. But rather than it can be attributed to others factors. It was also ineffective as a treatment for acute pain such as that caused by the hot-plate test.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• 제18권2호
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• pp.279-283
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• 2005

Biplane fluoroscopy is usually used in angiography. Biplane fluoroscopy gives a biplane image with high resolution during the performance of operations. Trigeminal nerve blocks are effective treatment modalities for trigeminal neuralgia, and maxillary nerve block is the most dangerous procedure among them. The anatomic structures can change after head and neck surgery, so the trigeminal nerve block procedures cannot be done so easily. We used biplane fluoroscopy in these difficult cases. Our first case was a 60-year-old man who had undergone maxillary nerve block. The second case was of a 64-year-old man who had pulsed radiofrequency lesioning of mandibular nerve performed after head and neck surgery. With biplane fluoroscopy, we got good results without any complications.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• 제21권3호
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• pp.224-228
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• 2008

Ulnar nerve compression in the cubital tunnel is a common entrapment syndrome of the upper limb. Pulsed radiofrequency lesioning (PRFL) has been reported as a treatment method for relieving neuropathic pain. Since the placement of the electrode in close proximity to a targeted nerve is very important for the success of PRFL, ultrasound seems to be well suited for this technique. A 36-year-old woman presented with complaints of numbness and pain on the medial aspect of the elbow and the pain radiated down to the $4^{th}$ and $5^{th}$ fingers for 10 years after she suffered an elbow contusion, we then scheduled this woman for the ultrasound guided PRFL of the ulanr nerve. The initial ultrasound examination demonstrated a swollen nerve, loss of the fascicular pattern and an increased cross sectional area of the ulnar nerve. After confirmation of the most swollen site of the nerve via ultrasound, two sessions of PRFL were performed. The postprocedural 10 cm visual analog scale score decreased from 8 to 1 after the two sessions of PRFL.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• 제23권3호
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• pp.198-201
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• 2010

Persistent and intractable hiccups (with respective durations of more than 48 hours and 1 month) can result in depression, fatigue, impaired sleep, dehydration, weight loss, malnutrition, and aspiration syndromes. The conventional treatments for hiccups are either non-pharmacological, pharmacological or a nerve block treatment. Pulsed radiofrequency lesioning (PRFL) has been proposed for the modulation of the excited nervous system pathway of pain as a safe and nondestructive treatment method. As placement of the electrode in close proximity to the targeted nerve is very important for the success of PRFL, ultrasound appears to be well suited for this technique. A 74-year-old man suffering from intractable hiccups that had developed after a coronary artery bypass graft and had continued for 7 years was referred to our pain clinic. He had not been treated with conventional methods or medications. We performed PRFL of the phrenic nerve guided by ultrasound and the hiccups disappeared.