Percutaneous RadioFrequency treatment for DISCogenic pain at the communicating ramus

Randomised sham-controlled double-blind multicenter clinical trial to evaluate the percutaneous radiofrequency treatment for discogenic pain at the communicating ramus

Status

Active, not recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ISRCTN

Registry ID

ISRCTN48011364

Enrollment

Registered

2013-07-12

Start date

2012-03-01

Completion date

Unknown

Last updated

2020-07-06

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Spine related pain disorders Musculoskeletal Diseases

Interventions

Patients with chronic low back pain in whom anamnesis, physical investigation and additional investigations point towards a discogenic problem first receive a diagnostic ramus communicans block.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

All

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion criteria: 1. Age 18 years or older 2. Anamnesis and physical investigation suggestive of discogenic pain on lumbar level 3. Decrease in numeric rating scale (NRS) of 2 or more / 10 on diagnostic ramus communicans block

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria: 1. Presence of red flags: possible fracture (major trauma, minor trauma in elderly or osteoporotic), possible tumor or infection (age >50 or <20, history of cancer, constitutional symptoms (fever, chills, weight loss), recent bacterial infection, IV drug abuse, immunosuppression, pain worsening at night or when supine), possible significant neurological deficit (severe or progressive sensory alteration or weakness, bladder or bowel dysfunction, evidence of neurological deficit (in legs or perineum in the case of low back pain) 2. Lumboradicular syndrome 3. Aspecific low back pain 4. Corpus vertebrae problem 5. Progressive neurological deficits 6. Major psychiatric disorder (according to psychiatrists opinion) 7. Anticoagulation cannot be stopped 8. Active infection 9. Pain in other parts of the body that is more severe 10. Allergies to any medication used in the study 11. Pregnancy 12. Communication (language) difficulties (according to physicians opinion)

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame
Pain reduction (NRS) measured at baseline,1, 3, 6 and 12 months.	—

Secondary

Measure	Time frame
1. Pain: Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (CPAQ) , Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire (4DSQ), Multidimensional Pain Inventory (MPI-DLV) measured at baseline, 3 and 12 months 2. Disability: Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) measured at baseline, 3 and 12 months 3. Generic health status: Rand-36 measured at baseline, 3 and 12 months 4. Kinesiophobia: Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (TSK) measured at baseline, 3 and 12 months 5. Coping: Pain Coping Inventory (PCI), Pain Cognition List (PCL-2003) measured at baseline, 3 and 12 months 6. Costs of intervention	—

Measure

Time frame

1. Pain: Chronic Pain Acceptance Questionnaire (CPAQ) , Four-Dimensional Symptom Questionnaire (4DSQ), Multidimensional Pain Inventory (MPI-DLV) measured at baseline, 3 and 12 months 2. Disability: Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) measured at baseline, 3 and 12 months 3. Generic health status: Rand-36 measured at baseline, 3 and 12 months 4. Kinesiophobia: Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (TSK) measured at baseline, 3 and 12 months 5. Coping: Pain Coping Inventory (PCI), Pain Cognition List (PCL-2003) measured at baseline, 3 and 12 months 6. Costs of intervention

—

Countries

Netherlands

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ISRCTN (via WHO ICTRP) · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026