RADIOFREQUENCY LESION ADJACENT TO THE DORSAL-ROOT GANGLION FOR CERVICOBRACHIAL PAIN - A PROSPECTIVE DOUBLE-BLIND RANDOMIZED STUDY

EACH OF 20 consecutive patients with a history of at least 1 year of i ntractable chronic cervicobrachial pain was randomly assigned to one o f two treatment groups. The pretreatment investigation included at lea st three diagnostic segmental nerve blocks in each patient. Each patie nt in Group I received a 67 degrees C radiofrequency lesion adjacent t o the dorsal root ganglion. The patients in Group II were treated in a n identical manner as those in Group I, except that no actual radiofre quency lesion was made. Neither the therapist nor the patients were aw are of the treatment group assignment. All patients were questioned ab out their pain experience 1 week before and 8 weeks after the procedur e. The following tests were used in evaluating patient response: Visua l Analogue Scale (VAS); McGill Pain Questionnaire, Dutch Language Vers ion (MPQ-DLV); and Multidimensional Pain Inventory, Dutch Language Ver sion (MPI-DLV). These tests showed that 8 weeks after the procedure, t here was a significant number of ''successful'' patients in Group I co mpared to Group II (P = 0.0027); there was a significant reduction in VAS score (P < 0.01) and also in parameters measured with MPQ-DLV and MPI-DLV in Group I. This study indicates that a 67 degrees C radiofreq uency lesion adjacent to the dorsal root ganglion can result in a sign ificant alleviation of pain in chronic cervicobrachial pain.