Sarcouncil Journal of Medical Series

Abstract: The present study has been designed to assess the outcomes of pulsed radiofrequency in the treatment of lumbar radicular pain in Iraqi patients. The study comprised patients suffering from lumbar radicular pain, with demographic information and data collected from multiple hospitals over a three-year period from 2021 to 2024. Following the acquisition of approval from the hospital ethics committee and the attainment of verbal and written consent from patients, In this study, 90 patients suffering from severe lumbar radiculopathy pain (as indicated by the Oswestry Disability Index) were observed over a period exceeding three months. The results of the study were found to be consistent with the methodology employed, with positive cases reporting an improvement ranging from 40 to 60% and a short-term outcome. The current study demonstrated an improvement in pain in all cases where treatment was administered. Furthermore, the results of continuous radiofrequency treatment revealed a decrease in pain among patients who received the treatment, as measured by pain scales. Nevertheless, the majority of studies failed to demonstrate statistically significant differences. The randomised clinical trials that have been analysed in this report suffer from several limitations, with generally moderate methodological quality. The studies demonstrate heterogeneity with regard to efficacy outcomes. • Radiofrequency therapy may be effective in treating chronic back pain according to the pain rating scales used in the studies. Statistically significant differences between the patient groups before and after treatment were only observed in two studies, favouring the group treated with continuous radiofrequency. Furthermore, patient satisfaction levels demonstrated no statistically significant differences when comparing continuous radiofrequency with other treatment modalities