SynthesisPain practice : the official journal of World Institute of Pain2026
Prognostic Value of Selective Nerve Root Blocks Prior to Pulsed Radiofrequency in the Treatment of Patients With Chronic Radicular Pain: A Systematic Review.
Synthesis in Pain practice : the official journal of World Institute of Pain, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
background/importanceSelective nerve root blocks (SNRBs) are frequently used in clinical algorithms for managing chronic radicular pain. However, their prognostic value in identifying patients likely to benefit from pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) treatment remains uncertain.
objectiveThis systematic review evaluates whether a positive response to an SNRB predicts improved clinical outcomes following PRF in patients with chronic radicular pain. EVIDENCE REVIEW: A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases, along with reference lists of relevant articles. Eligible studies included patients with chronic radicular pain and assessed the prognostic role of SNRBs administered prior to PRF. Risk of bias was assessed using the ROBINS-I V2 tool.
resultsOnly one prospective observational study met inclusion criteria. In patients with chronic lumbosacral radicular pain, a positive SNRB response was associated with a higher likelihood of treatment success at 6-week follow-up (odds ratio: 3.26; 95% CI: 0.97-11.00; p = 0.06). Multivariate analysis identified limited baseline disability, age > 55 years, and a positive SNRB response as predictors of success at 6 months, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.73.
conclusionsThis review identified a lack of published studies-aside from one prospective observational study-examining the prognostic value of SNRBs in the context of PRF for chronic radicular pain. The findings underscore not only a lack of high-quality evidence but a broader gap in the literature. Further robust research is warranted to clarify the clinical utility of SNRBs in guiding PRF treatment decisions.
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.