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Sacroiliac Joint Ablation Using MR-HIFU

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Abstract

The sacroiliac joint is the culprit in 15–30% of patients with chronic lumbar back pain. Ablation of the posterior sensory nerves supplying the joint is an established treatment option before arthrodesis. We report the successful application of MR-HIFU in a patient with therapy–refractory pain using the Sonalleve MR-HIFU system. The outpatient procedure was performed under spinal anaesthesia and analgosedation. The ramus dorsalis of L5 as well as the lateral branches of the ramus dorsalis S1–S3 was targeted, and tissue peak temperature per sonication was controlled using MR-thermometry. There were no post-interventional complications. Clinical improvement began 4 days post-intervention with complete resolution of the pain after 1 month.

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Funding

The corresponding author receives funding from Philips for part-time (20%) dedicated research time.

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Correspondence to Arash Najafi.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Najafi, A., Sartoretti, E. & Binkert, C.A. Sacroiliac Joint Ablation Using MR-HIFU. Cardiovasc Intervent Radiol 42, 1363–1365 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00270-019-02263-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00270-019-02263-0

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