Per-cutaneous procedures for pain management

Pain is defined as “an unpleasant sensory or emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage.” It affects the quality of the patient’s life by affecting their physical, psychological, and social aspects. The common causes of excruciating pain are cancer-related, bone pathology, and neuropathic-related pain. Opioids are the mainstay of analgesics for chronically ill patients; however, they are not readily available common people; hence, percutaneous pain management is preferred. Initially, C-arm fluoroscopy was used for facet and nerve root blocks using anatomical landmarks with a large amount of steroid and/or local anesthetics. Among the various imaging-guided modalities like fluoroscopy, ultrasound (USG), and computed tomography (CT) for percutaneous management of pain, CT-guided procedures have a lower rate of complications.

CT enhances anatomic resolution with a more precise needle tip positioning. Our study explains the efficacy of immediate pain relief in patients who have failed medical management. Percutaneous pain management can be of two types. They are “block” which is a temporary process by injecting steroids or long-acting anesthetics and “neurolysis” which is a near-permanent process of injecting alcohol.