ReviewPain reports
Ultrasound-guided lumbar medial branch blocks and intra-articular facet joint injections: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Review in Pain reports. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Image-guided injections for facet joint pain: evidence-based Delphi conjoined consensus paper from the European Society of Musculoskeletal Radiology and European Society of Neuroradiology.European radiology · 2025Article
- The Importance of Image Guidance in Common Spine Interventional Procedures for Pain Management: A Comprehensive Narrative Review.Pain and therapy · 2025Review
- Article
- New Ultrasound-Guided Approach to Access to the Posterolateral Part of Intervertebral Lumbar Discs: A Cadaveric Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Ultrasound-Guided vs. Fluoroscopy-Guided Interventions for Back Pain Management: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Ultrasound-guided axial facet joint interventions for chronic spinal pain: A narrative review.Canadian journal of pain = Revue canadienne de la douleur · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
There is great interest in expanding the use of ultrasound (US), but new challenges exist with its application to lumbar facet-targeted procedures. The primary aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to determine the risk of incorrect needle placement associated with US-guided lumbar medial branch blocks (MBB) and facet joint injections (FJI) as confirmed by fluoroscopy or computerized tomography (CT). An a priori protocol was registered, and a database search was conducted. Inclusion criteria included all study types. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool for randomized controlled trials and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood tool for assessing risk bias for observational cohort studies. Pooled analysis of the risk difference (RD) of incorrect needle placement was calculated. Pooled analysis of 7 studies demonstrated an 11% RD (
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.