Ali E Guven, Gisberto Evangelisti, Marco D Burkhard, Paul Köhli, Jan Hambrecht, Jiaqi Zhu, Erika Chiapparelli, Michael Kelly, Koki Tsuchiya, Krizia Amoroso, Arman Zadeh, Jennifer Shue, Ek Tsoon Tan, Andrew A Sama, Federico P Girardi, Frank P Cammisa, Alexander P Hughes
Lumbar medial branch radiofrequency neurotomy (RFN), a common treatment for chronic low back pain due to facet joint osteoarthritis (FJOA), may amplify paraspinal muscle atrophy due to denervation. This study aimed to investigate the asymmetry of paraspinal muscle morphology change in patients undergoing unilateral lumbar medial branch RFN. Data from patients who underwent RFN between March 2016 and October 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. Lumbar foramina stenosis (LFS), FJOA, and fatty infiltration (FI) functional cross-sectional area (fCSA) of the paraspinal muscles were assessed on preinterventional and minimum 2-year postinterventional MRI...
March 22, 2024: Pain