Systematic review of the therapeutic effectiveness of cervical facet joint interventions: an update
Three articles on PainSci cite Falco 2012: 1. The Complete Guide to Low Back Pain 2. The Complete Guide to Neck Pain & Cricks 3. Do Nerve Blocks Work for Neck Pain and Low Back Pain?
PainSci commentary on Falco 2012: ?This page is one of thousands in the PainScience.com bibliography. It is not a general article: it is focused on a single scientific paper, and it may provide only just enough context for the summary to make sense. Links to other papers and more general information are provided wherever possible.
This small 2012 review concluded that the “evidence for cervical medial branch blocks is fair.” Unfortunately, “fair” is a ridiculous word to use when summing up a “body” of evidence based on one trial (no matter how good) and one prospective evaluation. They also granted “fair” evidence for radiofrequency neurotomy based on just one randomized controlled trial (and a few almost meaningless observational studies).
Evidence for two other cervical joint interventions was “limited” by comparison! Indeed.
In my opinion, they did not find enough of any kind of evidence about anything to draw any conclusions whatsoever.
This paper is very similar to Manchikanti et al, regarding the thoracic spine (again involving some of the same researchers).
original abstract †Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
BACKGROUND: The prevalence of chronic, recurrent neck pain is approximately 15% of the adult general population. Controlled studies have supported the existence of cervical facet or zygapophysial joint pain in 36% to 67% of these patients, when disc herniation, radiculitis, and discogenic are not pathognomic «sic». However, these studies also have shown false-positive results in 27% to 63% of the patients with a single diagnostic block. There is also a paucity of literature investigating therapeutic interventions of cervical facet joint pain.
STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review of therapeutic cervical facet joint interventions.
OBJECTIVE: To determine and update the clinical utility of therapeutic cervical facet joint interventions in the management of chronic neck pain.
METHODS: The available literature for utility of facet joint interventions in therapeutic management of cervical facet joint pain was reviewed. The quality assessment and clinical relevance criteria utilized were the Cochrane Musculoskeletal Review Group criteria as utilized for interventional techniques for randomized trials and the criteria developed by the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale criteria for observational studies. The level of evidence was classified as good, fair, and limited or poor based on the quality of evidence developed by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). Data sources included relevant literature identified through searches of PubMed and EMBASE from 1966 to June 2012, and manual searches of the bibliographies of known primary and review articles.
OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measure was pain relief (short-term relief = up to 6 months and long-term> 6 months). Secondary outcome measures were improvement in functional status, psychological status, return to work, and reduction in opioid intake.
RESULTS: In this systematic review, 32 manuscripts were considered for inclusion. For final analysis, 4 randomized trials and 6 observational studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the evidence synthesis. Based on one randomized, sham-controlled, double-blind trial and 5 observational studies, the indicated evidence for cervical radiofrequency neurotomy is fair. Based on one randomized, double-blind, active-controlled trial and one prospective evaluation, the indicated evidence for cervical medial branch blocks is fair. Based on 2 randomized controlled trials, the evidence for cervical intraarticular injections is limited.
LIMITATIONS: Paucity of the overall published literature and specifically lack of literature for intraarticular cervical facet joint injections.
CONCLUSIONS: The indicated evidence for cervical radiofrequency neurotomy is fair. The indicated evidence for cervical medial branch blocks is fair. The indicated evidence for cervical intraarticular injections with local anesthetic and steroids is limited.
related content
- “Cervical medial branch blocks for chronic cervical facet joint pain: a randomized, double-blind, controlled trial with one-year follow-up,” Manchikanti et al, Spine, 2008.
- “Systematic review of diagnostic utility and therapeutic effectiveness of thoracic facet joint interventions,” Atluri et al, Pain Physician, 2008.
- “Injection therapy for subacute and chronic low back pain: an updated Cochrane review,” Staal et al, Spine, 2009.
- “Systematic assessment of diagnostic accuracy and therapeutic utility of lumbar facet joint interventions,” Datta et al, Pain Physician, 2009.
- “An update of evaluation of therapeutic thoracic facet joint interventions,” Manchikanti et al, Pain Physician, 2012.
This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:
- Cannabidiol (CBD) products for pain: ineffective, expensive, and with potential harms. Moore 2023 J Pain.
- Inciting events associated with lumbar disc herniation. Suri 2010 Spine J.
- Prediction of an extruded fragment in lumbar disc patients from clinical presentations. Pople 1994 Spine (Phila Pa 1976).
- Characteristics of patients with low back and leg pain seeking treatment in primary care: baseline results from the ATLAS cohort study. Konstantinou 2015 BMC Musculoskelet Disord.
- Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of universal school-based mindfulness training compared with normal school provision in reducing risk of mental health problems and promoting well-being in adolescence: the MYRIAD cluster randomised controlled trial. Kuyken 2022 Evid Based Ment Health.