ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pain Res.
Sec. Neuropathic Pain
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpain.2025.1618608
Clinical and radiological comparison of percutaneous cervical nucleoplasty combined with ultrasound-guided pulsed radiofrequency of cervical nerve root for cervical radicular pain: a retrospective, matched-cohort study
Provisionally accepted
- Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
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The best treatment yielding clinical benefits was still equivocal and controversial for the treatment of cervical radicular pain (CRP). This study aimed to propose a novel combination strategy of percutaneous cervical nucleoplasty (PCN) and ultrasoundguided pulsed radiofrequency(PRF)of cervical nerve root for CRP, and to compare its therapeutic effects with PRF alone. Methods 120 CRP patients who satisfied the inclusion requirements between January 2016 and March 2019 were retrospectively analyzed and split into PCN+PRF and PRF groups. The propensity score matching (PSM) technique was used to correct the imbalanced confounding variables between the groups. Then, clinical outcomes including the visual analog scale (VAS) score, Neck Disability Index(NDI) score, clinical assessment scale for cervical spondylosis (CASCS), modified MacNab criteria, radiological parameters, and complications were evaluated.In all, 120 patients were used to calculate the propensity score, producing 26 matched pairs that were monitored for a minimum of a year. When compared to the preoperative data, both groups' neck pain VAS scores, arm pain VAS scores, NDI scores, and CASCS scores saw a significant improvement during the follow-up period (p < 0.001). However, patients in the PRF group noted higher neck pain VAS scores, arm pain VAS scores, NDI scores, and CASCS scores than those in the PRF+PCN group at the final followup (p < 0.05). The decrease in surgical level disc height was more pronounced in the PRF+PCN group at the final follow-up (P < 0.05). The ROM was reduced in the PRF group but increased in the PRF+PCN group at the final follow-up (P < 0.01). Based on the modified MacNab criteria, the PRF and PCN+PRF groups had excellent and good rates of 76.92% and 84.62%, respectively, with no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05).We present and describe a novel strategy for the combined treatment of CRP in chronic cervical radicular pain using ultrasound-guided percutaneous disc radiofrequency ablation PCN and spinal nerve root pulse radiofrequency PRF, which is both effective and safe throughout the treatment process, reducing pain and improving function.
Keywords: Ultrasound guidance, Cervical radicular pain, Pulsed radiofrequency, Percutaneous cervical nucleoplasty, outcomes
Received: 28 Apr 2025; Accepted: 30 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Baodong, Song, Wang, Du, Zang and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Wang Baodong, Beijing Chaoyang Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
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