ReviewJournal of pain research2026
The Efficacy and Safety of Ultrasound-Guided Nerve Block in the Treatment of Cervical Spondylotic Radiculopathy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Review in Journal of pain research, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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
1 citing paper in PubMed.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Purpose: This meta-analysis systematically compares the clinical efficacy and safety of ultrasound-guided versus non-ultrasound-guided (ie, x-ray fluoroscopy, CT imaging, or anatomical landmark-guided) nerve blocks for cervical spondylotic radiculopathy (CSR). Patients and Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing ultrasound-guided with conventionally guided nerve blocks for CSR were searched in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China Biology Medicine disc (CBM), Chongqing VIP Chinese Science and Technology Periodical Database (VIP) and Wanfang databases from inception to July 1, 2025. Literature screening, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment were performed independently by two reviewers using the Cochrane tool. Meta-analysis was conducted with RevMan 5.4 and Stata 19.0. Primary outcomes included overall response rate and Visual Analog Scale (VAS) scores; secondary outcomes comprised first-attempt success rate, Neck Disability Index (NDI), 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), and complication incidence. Results: Thirteen RCTs involving 1072 patients were included. The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE) evidence quality was moderate for overall response rate and low for other outcomes. Compared with conventional guidance, ultrasound-guided nerve blocks resulted in a significantly higher overall response rate (risk ratio (RR) = 1.10, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.01-1.20, Conclusion: This meta-analysis demonstrates that ultrasound-guided nerve blockade is an efficacious and safe intervention for cervical spondylotic radiculopathy, offering advantages over conventional techniques. However, the current evidence is limited by the number and methodological quality of included studies. Future high-quality trials should adopt a multimodal assessment strategy, integrating objective physiological measures with patient-reported outcomes, to strengthen the evidence base and guide personalized management.
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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.