Radiofrequency Ablation for Management of Shoulder Pain

The treatment options for the management of shoulder pain are broad but evolving process. Modalities for controlling shoulder pain have commonly focused on pharmacotherapy, physical therapy, rehabilitation, and invasive procedures (surgical procedures, surgical, intra-articular steroid injections, many times, being sub-optimal). The use of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for managing shoulder pain is on the rise. Our review investigated the evidence for the use of RFA in the management of shoulder pain.

In our investigation, a review of the literature was conducted using Medline, PubMed, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews from 1966 to 2018. Our study included RCTs, open non-randomized control studies, prospective studies, retrospective studies, case series, and case reports. We limited our search to patients with chronic shoulder pathologies. Our initial search identified 96 articles for initial review. This was narrowed down to 31 articles, which met our inclusion criteria, with only 18 articles remaining after our exclusion criteria was applied. This systematic review suggests that shoulder RFA may provide a safe and significant benefit in the management of chronic shoulder pain. There were a few high-quality RCTs included in our study, which supports the findings of several case reports and case series.