Type:
Educational Exhibit
Keywords:
Interventional non-vascular, Musculoskeletal spine, Musculoskeletal joint, Fluoroscopy, CT, Percutaneous, Ablation procedures, Puncture, Endoscopy, Arthritides, Hyperplasia / Hypertrophy, Inflammation
Authors:
A. Picado Bermúdez1, M. Cifrian Pérez1, L. F. LONDOÑO VILLA2; 1Valencia, Valencia/ES, 2VALENCIA/ES
DOI:
10.26044/ecr2019/C-3256
Background
Back pain,
especially in the lower segments affects a high percentage of the population,
representing the most common reason for consultation in primary care.
In developed countries around 70 to 80% of the population will suffer lumbalgia or lumbociatalgia with a peak incidence between 45 to 60 years,
representing a significant health problem with great socioeconomic impact,
high rates of absenteeism and sick leave.
Among the structural etiologies,
facet syndrome (FS) accounts for 15 to 45% of the cases of low back pain,
mainly due to degeneration of the facet joints.
At this moment there are no accepted criteria for diagnosis of FS,
with imaging techniques being valuable to rule out other sources of pain.
Currently,
the standard for the diagnosis of FS is the blockage of the medial branch of the dorsal branch of the spinal nerve,
that provides sensory innervation to the interapophyseal joints.
Diagnostic positive block can indicate that the facet joint (FJ) is the source of pain and guide which patients will benefit from minimally invasive techniques such as nerve blocks and neurolysis by radiofrequency or cryoablation.