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Pulsed Radiofrequency Of Sympathetic Lumbar Plexus Versus Sympathetic Block In The Management Of Lower Limb Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type 1
| Freitas TS1,2*, Fonoff ET3, Neto ORM1, Deusdará RM1, Waihrich ES1 and Kessler I1 | |
| 1Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital of Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil | |
| 2Functional Neurosurgeon from Brasília Pain Institute, Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil | |
| 3Division of Functional Neurosurgery, Department of Neurology of School of Medicine of University of São Paulo, SP, Brazil | |
| Corresponding Author : | Tiago S. Freitas SQS 303 Bloco F Apto. 402 Asa Sul ZIP CODE: 70336-060, Brasília – DF, Brazil Tel: 55 61 84879489 Fax: 55 61 34451840 E-mail: tmosca@gmail.com |
| Received February 18, 2014; Accepted March 10, 2014; Published March 12, 2014 | |
| Citation: Freitas TS, Fonoff ET, Neto ORM, Deusdará RM, Waihrich ES, et al. (2014) Pulsed Radiofrequency of Sympathetic Lumbar Plexus versus Sympathetic Block in the Management of Lower Limb Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type 1. J Pain Relief 3:138. doi: 10.4172/2167-0846.1000138 | |
| Copyright: © 2014 Freitas TS, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. | |
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) type 1 is a neuropathic syndrome which most patients evolve to the necessity of interventional procedures to treat their pain. Our objective was to compare two safe options (pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) or sympathetic blocks) and their efficiency in the treatment of this neuropathic pain and in the quality of life of patients.
Methods: 40 randomized patients received PRF or sympathetic blocks in lower limb CRPS type 1. They were evaluated with VAS scores, neuropathic pain scale and RAND SF-36 scale in a follow up of 1 day, 7 days, 2-4 and 6 months.
Results: There were similar reductions from the baseline in various pain scores after the procedures. In the PRF group these results were statistically significant superior to the blockade group related to burning pain. The other parameters and RAND SF-36 had similar results.
Conclusions: PRF appears as a technique with similar results in the treatment of lower limb CRPS type 1, compared with the sympathetic block. Only one pain outcome (hot pain) was statistically significant and this difference was insignificant to the final result. Since it is a higher-cost procedure with too few benefits, this difference did not affect the quality of life (RAND SF-36).
