Trial reportBMC anesthesiology2023
Comparison of the effectiveness of ultrasound-guided versus fluoroscopy-guided medial lumbar bundle branch block on pain related to lumbar facet joints: a multicenter randomized controlled non-inferiority study.
Trial report in BMC anesthesiology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
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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
7 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Psoas Compartment Block Versus Medial Branch Block for Low Back Pain: A Narrative Review of Anatomical Targets, Clinical Evidence, and Patient Selection.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Automated segmentation and classification of lumbar transverse ultrasound views using a two-stage deep learning method.Frontiers in radiology · 2026Article
- Consensus Guidelines for the Use of Peripheral Nerve Stimulation in the Treatment of Chronic Pain and Neurological Diseases: A Neuron Project from the American Society of Pain and Neuroscience.Journal of pain research · 2025Article
- Hip chronic pain: ultrasound guided ablation of anterior articular branches plus posterior neurolysis of the nerve to the quadratus femoris versus the alone anterior approach-a retrospective observational study.Journal of ultrasound · 2024Observational
- The pros and cons of ultrasound-guided procedures in pain medicine.The Korean journal of pain · 2024Review
- Correction: Comparison of the effectiveness of ultrasound-guided versus fluoroscopyguided medial lumbar bundle branch block on pain related to lumbar facet joints: a multicenter randomized controlled noninferiority study.BMC anesthesiology · 2023Article
- Management of chronic low back pain: news on the lumbar medial branch block and the importance of the biopsychosocial model.Anaesthesiology intensive therapy · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe aim of this multicenter randomized interventional prospective study was to compare the ultrasound (US)-guided lumbar medial branch block (LMBB) with the fluoroscopy (FS)-guided LMBB in terms of analgesic efficacy and disability in the setting of the treatment of pain arising from the lumbar facet joints (LFJ).
methodsFifty adults with a "LFJ" syndrome were randomized into two groups: in group FS, fluoroscopic-guidance was used to block the medial branch at three lumbar levels (L3-L4, L4-L5 and L5-S1); in group US, same blocks were performed under ultrasound. Needle transverse approach was used with both techniques. Effects of these procedures were assessed with a Visual Analogue Pain Scale (VAPS), the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and the Duke's Activity Status Index (DASI) scale, before the treatment, 1 week and 1 month after. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) score was also collected before the procedure. Analysis of variance, one (for non-inferiority) and two-sided Mann-Whitney tests and Chi-square tests were performed.
resultsLMBB under US-guidance was not inferior to FS-guidance (P = 0.047) in terms of VAPS, ODI and DASI at 1 week and 1 month. Duration of techniques and HADS were similar between groups (=0.34; p = 0.59).
conclusionsThe medial lumbar bundle branch block under ultrasound-guidance is not inferior to the fluoroscopy-guidance procedure in effectively alleviating pain arising from the facet joints. Considering that this ultrasound technique has the benefit of an irradiation-free, real-time procedure, it can be considered as an effective alternative to the fluoroscopy-guided technique.
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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.