SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Surg.
Sec. Orthopedic Surgery
This article is part of the Research TopicInnovative Strategies to Prevent Cartilage, Meniscus, Ligament, and Bone Degeneration: From Oxidative Stress Modulation to Protective and Regenerative TherapiesView all articles
Efficacy and safety of radiofrequency thermocoagulation target therapy for lumbar disc herniation : a systematic review
Provisionally accepted
- Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Objective To systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of radiofrequency thermocoagulation target in the treatment of lumbar disc herniation. Methods Clinical randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on RFTT for LDH were collected by searching databases including CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure), Wanfang Data, VIP Database, PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science. The search period spanned from the establishment of each database to December 8, 2023. Two reviewers independently screened the literature and extracted data in accordance with the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The risk of bias of the included studies was assessed using the Cochrane Handbook 5.3.0 risk of bias assessment tool. Review Manager 5.4 software was used to analyze outcomes including total effective rate, Visual Analog Scale (VAS) score, Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and safety indicators. Results A total of 89 relevant studies involving 10,079 participants were included, with 5,046 in the experimental group and 5,033 in the control group. The final analysis reviewed 89 studies, covering 10,079 participants. Among them, 5,046 participants were assigned to the experimental group and received the specific intervention, while the remaining 5,033 participants were in the control group and received conventional treatment. The analysis results showed that the total effective rate, JOA score, and ODI of the experimental group were significantly higher than those of the control group, indicating that the therapeutic effect of the experimental group was more pronounced than that of the control group. The incidence of adverse reactions was relatively consistent between the two groups, and most adverse reactions could be resolved through self-resolution without the need for intervention. Conclusion In the treatment of LDH, radiofrequency thermocoagulation targeted surgery combined with conventional treatment is more effective than conventional treatment alone. It can better improve patients' quality of daily life and work ability, and this therapeutic approach significantly enhances patients' daily living quality and work capacity. However, due to the small sample size of the included studies and the low quality of relevant literature, the results of this study still require verification by more large-sample, multi-center, and high-quality clinical randomized controlled trials.
Keywords: Radiofrequency thermocoagulation target technique, Lumbar disc herniation, efficacy, Safety, Meta-analysis
Received: 10 Oct 2025; Accepted: 13 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cui, Chen, Liu, An and Zheng. 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: WenKe Zheng, zhengwk2020@tjutcm.edu.cn
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.