Efficacy and Cost: Benefit Ratio of 0, 1, and 2 Medial Branch Blocks for Lumbar Facet Joint Radiofrequency Denervation
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT00484159. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
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Official title
Prospective Randomized Study Comparing 0, 1, and 2 Diagnostic Lumbar Medial Branch (Facet Joint) Blocks Before Radiofrequency Denervation in Patients With Chronic Low Back Pain: A Cost: Benefit Analysis.
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
Lumbar zygapophysial (facet) joint pain is a common cause of low back pain. Radiofrequency (RF) denervation is an effective and low risk treatment of chronic low back pain of suspected facet joint etiology. Blocks of the medial branches innervating the joints are commonly used to localize the pain and make the diagnosis of facet joint pain. There is currently no standard number of diagnostic blocks: zero, one, and two blocks have all been utilized. Considering the high false positive and false negative rates of these blocks, the cost: benefit ratio has been questioned. No study to date has examined the practice of diagnostic medial branch blocks before RF denervation. The purpose of this study is to determine the optimal number of blocks before radiofrequency denervation. Three groups of patients will be studied. In group I, patients will undergo RF denervation based on history and physical exam alone. In group II, patients will undergo RF denervation based on a positive response to a single diagnostic block with local anesthetic. In group III, patients will undergo RF treatment only after a positive screening block and a positive confirmatory block.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT00484159
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Enrollment
- 151 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Interventions
- Radiofrequency denervation of medial branches Procedure
- 0.5% bupivacaine Drug
- 2% lidocaine Drug
- Radiofrequency denervation Procedure
Procedure · Drug
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 18 Years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Healthy volunteers not accepted
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Feb 2007 (Type not available)
- Primary completion
- Jan 2009 (Actual)
- Completion
- Jan 2009 (Actual)
- Last update posted
- Jul 26, 2011
2007 – 2009
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 2
- U.S. states
- 2
- U.S. cities
- 2
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walter Reed Army Medical Center | Washington D.C. | District of Columbia | 20307 | — |
| Johns Hopkins Hospital | Baltimore | Maryland | 21287 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT00484159, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted Jul 26, 2011 · Synced Nov 6, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete public registry record, listed eligibility criteria, and available contact information for NCT00484159 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.