• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.244-248
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• 2006

Radiofrequency lesioning is a valuable tool for third occipital headache. Relative to most neural targets, a radiofrequency lesion is very small. Reliable pre-operative diagnosis of the nociceptive source is critical, as inappropriately placed lesions will not modulate pain. Knowledge of the anatomical courses of nerves and extremely precise electrode placement are required for accurate lesioning. This report describes our experience with RF lesioning in the treatment of chronic pain in two patients who suffered from third occipital headaches. In one patient, satisfactory improvement of the pain was observed after 10 months of follow up.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.230-234
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• 2007

A diagnosis of shoulder pain is varied and difficult to make. The initial onset of liver cancer is difficult to detect and patients typically do not complain of symptoms as most tumors are asymptomatic. If the symptoms of the patients develop, the first symptom is usually pain that extends from the abdomen to the back and shoulder. A suprascapular nerve block is used in the treatment of the referred shoulder pain due to a metastatic hepatoma, but the effectiveness of the treatment has been limited because of its short duration. Recently, the advent of pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) lesioning has proved a successful treatment for chronic refractory pain involving the peripheral nerves. We experienced a case of a 66-year-old male patient complaining of referred right shoulder pain due to metastatic liver cancer, which was relieved after PRF lesioning of the suprascapular nerve.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.18 no.2
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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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• v.21 no.3
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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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• v.23 no.3
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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.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.22 no.2
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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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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.271-275
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• 2001

Buerger's disease is a nonatherosclerotic occlusive inflammatory disease of the small and medium arteries, and veins of the distal leg or arm. Percutaneous lumbar sympathectomy is used to lower extremity occlusive vascular disease as well as Buerger's disease. Lumbar sympathectomy improves blood flow and provides pain relief in the lower extremity. We report two cases of lumbar sympathectomy using radiofrequency thermocoagulation in patients with Buerger's disease. After no paresthesia and muscle contracture at 50 Hz, 1 volt and 2 Hz, 3 volts, respectively, radiofrequency lesioning was performed for 90 sec at $80^{\circ}C$. After the procedure, both patients showed skin temperature increases greater than $2^{\circ}C$ on the affected extremity. Both patients received relief from pain and symptoms without complications. We consider that lumbar sympathectomy using radiofrequency thermocoagulation is a safe and effective procedure that can relieve pain in patients with Buerger's disease.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.239-241
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• 2011

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.25 no.1
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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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• v.24 no.1
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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.