Post-lesion Administration of Dexamethasone to Prevent the Development of Neuritis After Radiofrequency Ablation

• Status: Recruiting
• Trial end date: 2022-09-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

Chronic neck and back pain has become one of the leading causes of disability and loss of productivity. For many patients with facet or sacroiliac joint mediated pain who have responded to diagnostic nerve blocks, radiofrequency ablation of the nerves innervating the joints can provide long term relief. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a relatively safe procedure with minimal risk of adverse events. However, with any procedure involving damage to the peripheral nervous system, there is risk of post-procedure neuropathic pain. The investigators will test the hypothesis that dexamethasone injection delivered at the time of lesion effectively prevents the development of post-ablation neuritis through a placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized trial in patients undergoing cervical, thoracic, lumbar, and sacroiliac joint radiofrequency denervations

• Phase: Phase 4
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Johns Hopkins University
• Treatments: Dexamethasone

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• patients with a diagnosis of either cervical, thoracic, or lumbar facet or sacroiliac joint pain who have responded to medial branch blocks and are already scheduled for bilateral radiofrequency ablations

• age greater than 18 years old

• English speaking

Exclusion Criteria:

• patient not previously scheduled for radiofrequency ablation of the cervical, thoracic, or lumbar facets, or sacroiliac joints

• on anticoagulation

• have a pacemaker

• age less than 18 years old

• non-English speaking