What is a Radiofrequency Ablation?

March 11, 2015 by defeatingpain 4 Comments

Sounds super scary right? And you don’t even know what it is yet. I am inspired to write this after explaining to a lot of people the procedure I had done recently. So why not get some word out on what this is, and how it can help with chronic pain conditions that stem from neurological disorders.

So what is it first of all? A Radiofrequency Ablation (or Radiofrequency Nerve Lesioning) is basically where they take a wire, and insert it down a needle into a part of you (generally along the spine if you are treating pain, other places for other issues) which is then heated up and tissue is ablated. Ablated means they’re removed, cauterized, or destroyed – think of it like one of those chemical peels, the top layer of skin is being ablated. Which sounds horrible and possibly painful just reading that but I swear it isn’t! Usually for pain management it is done to nerves coming from certain points on the spine, and the medial nerves (which sends the pain signal up to the brain) are targeted.

This is a picture of where they are and what things look like in the Cervical section of the spine.

It doesn’t feel really any different than any other injection procedure you might have, though sometimes you may get a muscle twitch when they pass current down the needle to make sure they are hitting the right spot. Once they know they are in the right spot using the current to stimulate and a fluoroscope, they pass a current down the wire that generates radio waves (which also produce heat) to cauterize, or ablate, the nerve. It is actually a pretty easy procedure, and I seem to recover faster than from other types of procedures. Plus I find it helps me a lot more with my pain than a cortisone injection these days.

Since it is easier to be a visual learner most of the time, here is a great video to watch with some animation so you won’t feel too squeamish if blood makes you woozy.

So as you can see it is waaaaay less scary than sticking a needle in you and burning off parts of your nerves sounds. Plus the nerves grow back in a few months and if you are lucky don’t have to repeat the process. If you are like me and do, it has a lot less negative side effects than getting cortisone over long periods of time, and you get to be free of some pain!

Remember all of our bodies are different and yours may react differently than mine, talk to your doctor, or a few doctors (which is best) and make sure you do your own research to make sure this is the right procedure for you and your pain condition. WebMD is a great resource as always for things like this, and definitely ask a professional!