Four to six million patients a year in the United States suffer from chronic pain caused by facet joint degeneration. Thermal ablation of the affected facet joint's sensory nerve using radiofrequency electrodes is the therapeutic standard of care. High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a novel technology enabling image-guided non-invasive thermal ablation of tissue. Six pigs underwent fluoroscopy-guided HIFU of the medial branch nerve and were followed up for 1 wk (two pigs), 1 mo (two pigs) and 3 mo (two pigs). At the end of each follow-up period, the animals were sacrificed, and targeted tissue was excised and evaluated with computed tomography scans as well as by macro- and micropathology. No significant adverse events were recorded during the procedure or follow-up period. All targets were successfully ablated. X-Ray-guided HIFU is a feasible and promising alternative to radiofrequency ablation of the lumbar facet joint sensory nerve.

在美国，每年有 4 到 600 万患者遭受由小关节退化引起的慢性疼痛。使用射频电极对受影响的小关节的感觉神经进行热消融是护理的治疗标准。高强度聚焦超声 (HIFU) 是一种新技术，可实现组织的图像引导非侵入性热消融。六头猪接受了透视引导下的内侧支神经HIFU，并随访了1周（两只猪）、1个月（两只猪）和3个月（两只猪）。在每个随访期结束时，处死动物，切除目标组织，并通过计算机断层扫描以及宏观和微观病理学进行评估。在手术或随访期间没有记录到显着的不良事件。所有目标都被成功烧蚀。