Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Mar 26, 2021; 9(9): 2153-2159
Published online Mar 26, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i9.2153
Clinical efficacy of ultrasound-guided pulsed radiofrequency combined with ganglion impar block for treatment of perineal pain
Shui-Qing Li, Ling Jiang, Li-Gang Cui, Dong-Lin Jia
Shui-Qing Li, Dong-Lin Jia, Department of Pain Medicine, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China
Ling Jiang, Li-Gang Cui, Department of Ultrasound, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing 100191, China
Author contributions: Li SQ and Jia DL designed the study; Li SQ, Jia DL, and Jiang L participated in the analysis, interpretation of the data and manuscript drafting; Li SQ, Jia DL, Jiang L, and Cui LG revised the article critically for important intellectual content.
Institutional review board statement: This study was reviewed and approved by Peking University Third Hospital.
Informed consent statement: Informed consent was obtained from all patients included in the study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement – checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement – checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Dong-Lin Jia, MD, Surgeon, Department of Pain Medicine, Peking University Third Hospital, No. 49 North Garden Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100191, China. jiadlin@126.com
Received: January 5, 2021
Peer-review started: January 5, 2021
First decision: March 8, 2021
Revised: March 10, 2021
Accepted: March 15, 2021
Article in press: March 15, 2021
Published online: March 26, 2021
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Ganglion impar block alone or pulsed radiofrequency alone are effective options for treating perineal pain. However, ganglion impar block combined with pulsed radiofrequency (GIB-PRF) for treating perineal pain is rare and the puncture is usually performed with X-ray or computed tomography guidance.

AIM

To evaluate the safety and clinical efficacy of real-time ultrasound-guided GIB-PRF in treating perineal pain.

METHODS

Thirty patients with perineal pain were included and were treated by GIB-PRF guided by real-time ultrasound imaging between January 2015 and December 2016. Complications were recorded to observe the safety of the ultrasound-guided GIB-PRF procedure, and visual analogue scale (VAS) scores at 24 h before and after treatment and 1, 3, and 6 mo later were analyzed to evaluate clinical efficacy.

RESULTS

Ultrasound-guided GIB-PRF was performed successfully in all patients, and no complications occurred. Compared with pretreatment scores, the VAS scores were significantly lower (P < 0.05) at the four time points after treatment. The VAS scores at 1 and 3 mo were slightly lower than those at 24 h (P > 0.05) and were significantly lower at 6 mo after treatment (P < 0.05). There was a tendency toward lower VAS scores at 6 mo after treatment compared with those at 1 and 3 mo (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Ultrasound-guided GIB-PRF was a safe and effective way to treat perineal pain. The 6-mo short-term clinical efficacy was favorable, but the long-term outcomes need future study.

Keywords: Ganglion impar, Perineal pain, Pulsed radiofrequency, Real-time ultrasound guidance

Core Tip: Ganglion impar block alone or pulsed radiofrequency alone are effective options for treating perineal pain. However, the safety and clinical efficacy of real-time ultrasound-guided ganglion impar block combined with pulsed radiofrequency (GIB-PRF) remain unclear. In this study, we evaluated thirty patients with perineal pain who received real-time ultrasound-guided GIB-PRF. Ultrasound-guided GIB-PRF was found to be a safe and effective method to treat perineal pain, with a favorable 6-mo outcome.