P85. Treatment of pain using cervical radiofrequency ablation: outcomes from an international, prospective multicenter study (RAPID)

• Published in: The spine journal 2024-09, Vol.24 (9), p.S104-S104
• Main Authors: Danko, Michael, Atallah, Joseph, Holt, Bradley, Iqbal, Maaz, Shah, Binit, Singh, Albert, Sachdeva, Harsh, Haas, Sherri, Sekhar, Rajat, Pan, Ann, Goldberg, Edward
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1529-9430
• DOI: 10.1016/j.spinee.2024.06.106

Chronic axial neck pain with or without headache and/or upper extremity pain is increasingly noted as a source of enduring disability and medical costs, and one of the leading causes of health care burden. Several clinical studies, including RCTs and observational studies have demonstrated positive outcomes using radiofrequency ablative (RFA) techniques for a range of chronic neck pain indications. Further, a recent meta-analysis of 20 previously published studies showed that evidence collectively published supports the use of therapeutic radiofrequency (RF) techniques for the effective management of chronic neck pain. In light of the on-going opioid epidemic and the need to provide better care to chronic pain patients, recent guidelines (HHS 2019 Best Practices report and 2022 CDC guidelines) have highlighted the need to incorporate interventional techniques including neuromodulation and RF. Thus, it is important to continually assess and document clinical effectiveness of contemporary RF devices in real-world patients with chronic neck pain, headaches and proximal upper extremity pain. We assessed patients diagnosed with chronic cervical facet joint pain who were treated with RFA as part of a prospectively-enrolled, real-world, multicenter, international study. NA Patients with cervical fact joint pain. N/A This is a cervical RF sub-analysis as part of the RAPID study (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04673032), an international, prospective, multicenter, observational outcomes study of up to 1500 patients using a commercially-approved radiofrequency ablation system (Boston Scientific, Marlborough, MA), as indicated per local directions for use, for chronic pain. Key data and clinical assessments will include demographic characteristics, pain diagnosis, baseline (and post-treatment) pain scores (Numerical Rating Scale, NRS), percent pain relief, patient global impression of change, and occurrence of adverse events. Cervical RF sub-study participants are evaluated out to 24-months. To date, 73 enrolled subjects (mean age = 60.6 ± 11 years) with cervical facet joint pain (mean baseline targeted pain intensity (0 - 10) = 6.63). At 24-months post-procedure a mean targeted pain score of 2.44 (0-10 scale) was reported. This represents a sustained ∼4.0-point NRS pain score improvement versus baseline measurement. Greater than 80% percent of subjects reported a improvement (classified as either very much, much and minimal improvement) out to 24-months post-proc