[Percutaneous therapy for back pain : Epidural and perifacet therapies]

Back pain, which has a high prevalence, is associated with substantial individual and socioeconomic burden. Mechanical irritation and local inflammation promote edema, neovascularization, and pain chronification.

This article aims to provide an overview of the possible indications for and the performance of periradicular therapy (PRT), epidural injection therapy, facet joint infiltration, and facet denervation.

This clinical narrative review presents workflows of the different techniques, the medications used, and potential complications. This paper does not constitute a systematic scientific review.

Interventional pain therapies are useful after unsuccessful conservative treatment and in the presence of an appropriate clinical-imaging correlation. PRT is used for radicular symptoms. Epidural injection therapy, in contrast, is suitable for bilateral and multisegmental complaints. Facet joint infiltrations are used therapeutically for pain management and may also be employed diagnostically prior to denervation procedures.